"i wanted to swim," the words came out as blunt as could be, "preferably with you," now they sounded a bit more like a whine. "really - with kyle? the last time he and i went on a mission, he-" could she tell mateo about his 'illegal pokemon capture'? didn't she promise not to tell anyone? the pinkette let out a loud, grumbling mutter, sinking further onto the shell of her blastoise.

"relax, dragon king and just enjoy my company for a moment!" she chided him with a tsk. unfortunately, there wasn't much relaxation to be had, as, rather abruptly, a pelipper dropped from the trees and right onto her.

a small shriek erupted from noelle's lips as the deranged bird began to peck and pull at her hair. her hands waved about wildly as she tried to get it to go away, to the point that she actually fell off of blastoise's shell, landing on the ground with a thud and teary eyes.

"Mate-oh, ow!" She cried out for her knight in shining armor to save her. But, it was blastoise who responded first. The crazy water bird was shot in the face with an up-close hydro pump that blasted it through the trees. the big turtle let out an irritated huff, reaching over to comfortingly pat his trainer on the head...and fix her, now, tangled hair. giving argos a grateful look, she sniffled, staring at mateo.

"h-how do i look?"

"really? that's good," noelle, oblivious to his confusion, let out a little sigh of relief. the appearance of the deino sparked a slight fondness within her heart - if not a bit of envy. nero was...difficult. had mateo attempted such a thing with the unruly dark dragon, he likely would've gotten his hand bitten. he was...a work in progress. getting better, but, still missing something. but, one day, he'd get there and be the dragon he was destined to be, she'd promised him this.

"congratulations," noelle gave him a warm smile, "uhm...how much you'd enjoy swimming with me?" noelle suggested casually, a tiny, impish smirk creeping onto her lips as she gave him a playful wink. Now walking alongside her blastoise, there was the starling war cry of something above the trees and a flash of feathers. in a grand entrance of some kind, a colorful bird fell to the ground. all the while, something rather hideous looking pulled itself from out of the lake, glowering at the two trainers as it made its way over.

"oh, teo! you know who'd love both of these?" she smiled, clasping her hands together. "we've got to catch them for him!" as soon as the words left her lips, she realized that there was a...99% chance that the 'dragon-king' wouldn't even think of ever catching something, and gifting it, to Chancelor of all people. she didn't understand how the men were so close, yet, acted like they couldn't stand one another. then again, mateo wasn't exactly the....easiest to get along with. he was so stubborn. stupidly stubborn.

"ah...think of it as a way to get the 'one up' over him! 'cause, he'll owe you one if you gift him this, right? and him owing you anything will really make him mad, i bet! sssoooo," she offered a sheepish smile before turning to the nearing barbaracle. it kinda creeped her out, honestly. the way it stared both her and argos down made her shudder, but, she wouldn't be dismayed.

"argos," she called out to her blastoise, "can you handle this?" she asked hopefully. the seasoned turtle nodded, stepping forward. the water rock man made the first move.

a cross chop was delivered to the blastoise's head. however, argos quickly retracted his head into his shell, causing the move to unsuccessfully clash with the hard, armor-esque material instead. his stubby arms grasped hold of the barbaracle's retracting arms, holding it into place. twin canons revealing itself from his shell, a white beam of flash canon erupted from the nozzles, the force of the close range blow causing the water/rock type to sink into the ground whilst argos' hold on its arm prevented it from being blasted away. trapped, injured, and unable to escape the blastoise's grip, there was little more it could do.

always eager to watch the experienced turtle handle his own battles, if not a bit jealous that she had yet to develop the skills to command such plans, noelle clapped her hands in victory for him. unhooking a pokeball, she lightly tapped it to the barbaracle's head. "one down!"

her lips drew into a slightly flat line and unamused expression. she...didn't want to go swimming with the others. that was so...ugh. it sounded fun, she supposed but that defeated the whole purpose of - "he's so dumb," the woman grumbled underneath her breath. but, with mateo, she'd get what she could take. 

his and chancelor's ever odd relationship was always refreshing and amusing to the pinkette - it hadn't changed even as adults. a small blush came to her cheeks at the notion of being useful to him. "i can be useful in others way too, y'know," she giggled - playfully and teasingly - but...hey, there was a bit of truth in her words. a devilish smirk curled over her lips though as she let out a little 'hehe'. "you can try, little teo! your muscles don't look all that different from when you were a child," she innocently hummed. 

that was definitely a lie. because those things were nice to look at. she couldn't give him too much of a swell head though. 

before she could answer his question, a loud buzz appeared - a vespiqueen hovered above the treetops. always having an admiration for the pokemon, she couldn't resist the urge to try and catch it. argos, like a true parent, noticed the glimmer within noelle's eyes almost immediately. always one to spoil the woman, he moved without command. a flash of silvery light shot from his twin canons. the flash canon struck the bug type hard and quick, causing it to fall to the ground along with a few loosened tree branches that fell atop of it.

"ah, argos, easy-!" noelle scrambled for a pokeball, tossing the ball at the fallen and trapped bug. picking up the, hopefully, captured pokemon, she turned back to finally address mateo.

"because i want to spend time with you. duh. i want to make up for all the lost years, i've really missed you, y'know?" the girl spoke bluntly and truthfully.

"spending time with chance is....tiring. but, i've missed him too so maybe...ah, maybe he'll go swimming with me! or maybe he'll let me take charizard out for a ride? do you think he'd let me?" she hummed, musing aloud. she really did need to reconnect with him as well. despite being 'crazy' for dragon boy over here, the young mcqueen was also a dear friend of hers.

however, abruptly, noelle paused, blinking once. and then twice.

"are you...saying you want to go shopping with me? of course, my love! we can choose out a matching outfit!" she was quick to try and latch onto his arm, if just to nestle her face into it.

the pinkette only affectionately rolled her eyes. she, of course, didn't take his stubborn comment to heart. he had to miss her - they'd been best friends, for arceus' sake! giggling softly under her breath at the clear distaste he held for chancelor and his pokemon, she waved off his warnings with a gesture of her hand. "i'm sure charizard is a sweetie underneath that rugged look!...kinda like you!" she hummed, his warnings flowing in one ear and out through the other. "chance isn't nearly as bad as you make him out to be! he's...matured. a bit. he's fun to be around....a bit crazy but..." realizing she was losing her arguing case, the woman waved him off. "you're being over dramatic!" of course, someone like her had little room to talk in regards to being 'over dramatic'.

once again, she completely missed whatever point he was trying to make, all in favor of beaming at the man with big, doe eyes. "that's it! i can get a cape! maybe something pink?" she flashed a few poses, as though imaging she had a flowing cape just like he did. "i can be just as cool as you are then, right, teo?" she looked over her shoulder, offering him a warm smile as her emerald gaze stared right into his eyes. surprisingly, there was no amount of taunt nor playful tease in her voice; she was being sincere.

the moment was, unfortunately, ruined by her clumsily tripping over a psyduck she failed to see. the dumb, yellow duck had been staring intently at a fish in a puddle of water in the middle of the trailing path.

"why do things keep happening to me today," the girl complained with a soft groan - but...wait, this was her chance! "help me up?" she batted her eyes up at him.