Click, click.

[break]Riley lowered his camera, admiring the view. Route 115 was quite a beautiful place, with so much greenery tucked away, and with a beautiful ocean view. He still couldn't get used to all that water. Clouds drifted out over the horizon, blotting out what had been a previously-sunny day. He didn't mind, though—in fact, he couldn't stand too much sun.

[break]In the distance, Riley's Espeon and Umbreon were lounging about, ostensibly protecting him from any wild pokémon while he took his pictures. The two were curled up together, grooming each others' fur. But it wasn't long before Espeon brought his head up, staring into the distance. Moments later, a Sylveon came bounding into view. Umbreon jumped up immediately, alert, while Espeon slowly pulled himself to his feet and gave a nod to the eeveelution and her trainer as they approached.

[break]The latter stuck his nose out in greeting as Silque approached, while Umbreon stared at the two of them warily. As Momo offered a snack to the two of them, Umbreon approached and sniffed the berry, his eyes narrowing. Once he deemed it acceptable, he squinted and took a slow bite, before offering the rest to Espeon, who accepted eagerly. Happy with the treat, the two both relaxed a bit, enjoying the free snack for what it was.

[break]"Hey!"

[break]Riley stormed over, a dark look on his face. His heart pounded anxiously as he surveyed the scene—and then he forced himself to relax. It was just a trainer. Back home, he was so used to... well, it didn't matter. Slumping down a bit, he took a good look at Umbreon and Espeon, before giving the trainer a nod. "Sorry, I thought..." he sighed, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter what I thought."

[break]

He shoved his hands in his pockets, feeling awkward. "What, uh... brings you out here?" Ugh. Small talk.

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[break]

Momo Sakai

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"No, it's fine," Riley replied, shaking his head with a sigh. "I shouldn't have snapped."

[break][break]The girl seemed to brush it off pretty quickly, which Riley was fairly grateful for. He knew that his temper wasn't... the best, but it was a work in progress. Instead, she commented on his two friends, calling them very nice. Riley smiled a little, looking down at Espeon and Umbreon. The latter was still eyeing Momo and Silque with the eyes of a trained watchdog, while the former had taken a moment to sniff the sylveon amicably.

[break]Just as Riley attempted to make some small talk, a disturbance interrupted their conversation, as a few pokémon decided to approach the two of them—first, a klawf, and then a cranidos straggling behind. The girl jumped into action almost immediately, commanding Silque to go ahead and Moonblast on the klawf. Riley supposed that meant the cranidos was left to him. "Umbreon," Riley muttered, looking to the dark-type. "Do your thing."

[break]Springing into action, Umbreon rushed towards the cranidos with narrowed eyes. The cranidos let out a small bleat of surprise at being met with aggression so quickly. Umbreon affixed it with a Mean Look, causing the fossil pokémon to freeze in place. "Alright, Umbreon," he called, crossing his arms. "Use Dark Pulse." With a battle cry, the eeveelution unleashed a wave of darkness from his glowing rings, striking the immobilized rock-type repeatedly.

[break]Riley expected the pokémon to wander off, having been beaten, but instead it stayed there, immobilized. What... exactly was the common practice among trainers when it came to wild pokémon? Maybe he should just...? Pulling an empty pokéball out from his jacket, he tossed it at the cranidos, watching it disappear in a blink of red light. Satisfied, Umbreon padded back towards him, settling down next to his partner.

[break]Looking back to the girl, he listened quietly as she answered his question: she was here to see the sights, while also capturing some pokémon. Riley looked to where the cranidos had been. He had... enjoyed that, somewhat. The girl introduced herself as Momo and her sylveon as Silque, returning his question. "I'm Riley," he replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Espeon, Umbreon, and I are new to Hoenn, so we were just taking in some of the sights, too. Grabbing some pictures." He gestured down at his camera, before shrugging.

[break]"Do... you mind if I join you for a little bit? That was pretty fun."

[break][break]

+ duo wild: rock, fairy, dragon
[break]+ attempting to catch cranidos

[break]

Momo Sakai

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

So they were both rather new to Hoenn, then? That made things a bit easier. Riley wasn't really the type to ask for help or anything like that, but there was something reassuring about the idea that he wasn't the only one learning to adjust to a new environment.

[break]Riley explained that he was just seeing the sights and grabbing some pictures, which seemed to catch Momo's interest. She noted that he must have seen some pretty cool sights, and Riley nodded in agreement, pointing just beyond the route they were on. "I've just come from Meteor Falls. It was pretty awesome, actually—I'm not much of a landscape photographer, but I had to get a few of the falls. They were magnificent." Though Riley still spoke in a somewhat disaffected tone, it was clear that he was quite passionate about his work.

[break]Riley followed Momo, clicking through some of his photos as they walked. They soon found themselves near a small fruit grove, just overlooking the waters. Route 115 was very pretty, all things considered—unlike the ash-covered Fallabor Town, it was basically nothing but green and blue for miles and miles. Momo's attention was quickly caught by an appletun—Riley had never seen one in real life. Nodding, he watched her approach, sending Silque after it. Within moments, the pokémon was caught!

[break]"Nice catch," said Riley, giving her a nod of approval. "You're pretty good at that. Are you a professional trainer?" Despite his cranidos capture earlier, Riley wasn't much of a battler. Espeon and Umbreon had basically trained themselves, honestly—he only really battled when he was in danger of some kind. Still, he couldn't deny that this was pretty fun so far.

[break]Speaking of which, Espeon and Umbreon both approached Silque. Espeon gave the sylveon a calm nod of approval, while Umbreon hopped up and down, eager for his chance to battle.

[break][break]

+ duo wild: rock, fairy, dragon

[break]

Momo Sakai

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Momo seemed pretty excited about his trip to Meteor Falls, which was enough to make Riley a little bashful. He shook his head. "Nah," he replied, waving his hand. "Nothing too tough. The hike was a bit steep, but the actual place was pretty quiet." That didn't mean it was absent of dangerous pokémon or anything, but the actual terrain wasn't too treacherous. Then again, maybe he and Momo had different ideas of what constituted as "tough".
[break][break]With that said, Riley couldn't help but be a bit impressed with her skills as a trainer. It was clear that she and Silque were a practiced pair, and Riley couldn't help but sate his curiosity a bit. As Momo finished her catch, he asked if she was a professional trainer, and to his surprise, she denied this. She actually hadn't been battling or catching for that long! She was a coordinator, though, so professional wasn't too far. "Coordinator, nice." Riley replied with a nod. Contests had never been his thing, but he respected the practice. "That explains all the pink. Only a coordinator would have such a clear sense of aesthetic," he joked, deadpan, as they walked along.
[break][break]It wasn't long before they found some more pokémon to test their skills on: a drednaw and a florges. Momo seemed fixated on the Florges, so Riley turned his attention to the drednaw. "Alright, Umbreon, your go." The umbreon leapt into battle, bouncing side to side in a fighting stance. "Start with—" So eager for battle, Umbreon leapt into action, unleashing a DARK PULSE upon the drednaw. The drednaw let out a low groan, and seemed to assess the situation... before turning and fleeing into the nearby water.
[break][break]Riley sighed, looking into his hand. "Umbreon, remember... that's why we start with MEAN LOOK, yeah? Granted, he hadn't expected the drednaw to just flee like that, but still. Umbreon looked a little bashful, plopping down into the grass with a huff. Espeon approached and sat down next to his partner, resting his tail on his back, and turned to watch Silque fight the Florges.
[break][break]Riley also turned his attention to the other battle, pulling his polaroid out of his bag. As Silque unleashed her MOONBLAST, Riley snapped a clean photo, which then printed out almost immediately. He smiled to himself—it turned out well! Silque looked both cute and strong in the photo, which Riley gathered was a plus when it came to contests.
[break][break]Approaching Momo and her freshly-caught Florges, he rolled his eyes. "How about sending some of that beginner's luck my way?" he joked again in that signature monotone. With that, he handed her the polaroid of her and Silque. "There you go. Pro bono. Thanks for being such a good subject."

[break][break]

+ duo wild: rock, fairy, dragon
[break]+ duo wild: passing on drednaw

[break]

Momo Sakai

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

So. Riley and Umbreon's first attempt at a proper capture... didn't go so great. Umbreon got a bit ahead of himself, eager to unleash some pent up energy and aggression, and went for a DARK PULSE first, rather than a MEAN LOOK as Riley had planned. Unfortunately, this meant that the drednaw had ample time to flee back into the ocean, undefeated and uncaught. Umbreon was a little bashful about the whole deal, but perked up a bit with Silque and Espeon's support.[break][break]

Riley didn't particularly mind, though. Sure, it was unfortunate, but he wasn't particularly itching for a drednaw anyway. Besides, Momo had already launched into her own fight against one of the other pokémon, and he was more invested in that. Taking out his polaroid camera, he snapped a photo of her and Silque in action. Once they'd managed to capture the Florges, Riley approached and offered the polaroid to Momo pro bono, for "being such a good subject".[break][break]

Really, Riley had just hoped she might like it, but he wasn't expecting her to be so thrilled over it. The first thing Riley saw was the shine of her unshed tears—his stomach lurched, wondering if he'd managed to piss her off somehow—but then he realized that she was just... really, really happy, and apparently not one to hide her happiness. That was rare, back in Orre.[break][break]

"Hey, it's... it's no problem," he replied, a little awkwardly. He as going to tell her that it wasn't such a big deal, but decided against it. If she wanted to invest meaning into it, that was her prerogative. "I'm glad you like it."[break][break]

Moments later, Silque called out to them, apparently alerting to more pokémon. Umbreon hounded after her, and Riley followed. Umbreon made a dash for the small, dog-like pokémon, before hitting it with a MEAN LOOK. Espeon swooped in after him, unleashing a blast of PSYCHIC.[break][break]

The poor pokémon didn't know what hit it, and it crumpled almost immediately. Walking up, Riley tossed a pokéball in the direction of the dachsbun, before scratching his two pokémon behind the ears. "Good work, boys," Riley said, approaching the ball and snatching it up from the ground. They always worked better as a pair, anyway.[break][break]

Now. Don't judge him too harshly, but... truthfully, Riley didn't even realize that the dachsbun he'd just caught was special in any particular way. Pokémon were rare enough in Orre as it was, so the concept of a "shiny" pokémon wasn't something that Riley had even heard of. To him, he'd just caught a normal pokémon, same as any other.[break][break]

"I knew that beginner's luck had to pay off sometime," Riley joked, as he and the dogs walked back to Momo. It seemed she'd caught a pokémon of her own—an altaria. With that, it seemed like they were both ready to call it for the day in terms of catching, but Momo invited him to sit and have some food with her. Riley paused, uncertain.[break][break]

Eh, what the hell? They were basically friends at this point.[break][break]

"I've got some trail bars as well," Riley offered as he took a seat, digging into his bag. Once they'd gotten all set up, he reclined back with a sigh, finding some shade under a tree as he ate. Umbreon and Espeon cuddled up next to him, both piled up in a puddle to his left. Overall, it had been a pretty good afternoon. Better than he was expecting.[break][break]

"So, why contests, Momo?" Riley asked, once he'd gotten through most of his portion of food. "I mean, it's clearly something you care about, but... why?" Perhaps a bit blunt, but Riley wasn't really one to mince words. Besides, he couldn't help but be curious as to what she had to say.

[break][break]

+ duo wild: rock, fairy, dragon
[break]+ duo wild: capturing dachsbun

[break]

Momo Sakai

[attr="class","pokeclass"]