As the scarred man and his pack of canine’s stretched to ready themselves for a good jog, Maverick couldn’t shake the feeling that something in the job description seemed strange. Why would they tell you have a partner just in case there would be trouble? In his mind, he felt as though it was a set up. Like, it was a trial or something to test the pair who dare take on his mission. Like instead of in case you run into trouble, expect to be put in a dangerous situation. It just seemed too odd to Mav. He has been in his fair share of dangerous situations and most of the time, missions or jobs he took it said you will be put in danger. With a low grunt to himself, the trainer knew he could handle anything thrown his way anyway. Always expect the unexpected. Isn’t that how the saying goes?

It wasn’t until a feminine voice rang in his ears and a playful nudge when the man snapped out of his daze. He flinched, startled at first. His warm gaze fell upon a pink haired woman accompanied by her own fiery creature. At first, Maverick was speechless. He couldn’t believe it. It just seemed, weird. Maverick knew gym leaders and other higher up league members had lives but still. He was in the presence of a gym leader. “Uhhh…” he mumbled with a chuckle for a moment before realizing he snapped out of it when offered her hand in a old fashion hand shake, “Hello Selena. It’s nice to meet you.” Not going to lie, she was pretty. “The name in Maverick,” he introduced himself, extending his own hand in a hand shake, “That is Azula, Evo, and Azur.” Each of the canine’s head titled at the sound of their name, Azula the six foot seven houndoom moved in close to Maverick. “And yeah, let’s go.”

On that cue, the man fell into a steady jog. At first, he wanted to start light though would speed up if his partner actually wanted to race. Azula and Evo darted before them in their own little race, playfully nipping at each others sides as they chased after each other without a care in the world. Azur, the little pup, trotted next to Maverick in a light pace though his mouth already parted in a pant. Maverick could already feel his blood start pumping, heart beat increase, and already feeling sweat starting to form. Man…. He was out of shape. Of course, he tried not to let his partner already see him struggling. After all, she was a gym leader and at some point in his lifetime he will have to face her again in her gym.

At one point in his life, Maverick was a gym leader on another region. Although his position as a gym leader was very short lived, he knew what it was like. Kinda. Before he left his former home, he challenged the previous gym leader the title of gym leader for that town. And by some kind of miracle, Maverick actually won the title. And in his short four month renovation of the gym and new ruler, he had a small sample of what it was like. The man went from nobody to somebody. Before his interview and national region announcement, the scarred male was just another trainer in the world. As soon as the news hit the television sets in that area, thousands flock the town to see him. It was unfortunate that his gym never officially opened and he never had a challenger for his gym badge. The region was deemed inhabitable after the last round of chaos that recked the region and the man was forced to leave, finding a new start on hoenn.

These thoughts and so many move rattled in his mind as they jogged up the mountain side. Occasionally, his warm gaze would flickered to her though he remained silent deep in his own thought. Maverick wasn’t much of a small talker either, especially if this woman was a gym leader he would one day challenge. It didn’t take long for Maverick to feel the burn, small droplets of sweat trickled down the side of his face and his pits started to feel damp. Good thing he put on extra deodorant this morning. Maverick’s attention was on his two canine who playfully ran around in front of them, every once in a while tackling each other before getting to their feet once more. He could feel himself breathing hard, panting much like his canine’s.

It was only when the female called out for a break that the man stopped a few feet in front of her, legs already felt like noddles. Mav turned to her, hunched over to rest his hands on his knees gasping for air. The houndoom and arcanine kept going, Azur stopped next to his trainer. Droplets of sweat slid down his face and fell to the ground below. His warm gaze fell upon to the long legged blaziken who ran in place. If only he had that much energy to burn. Crimson colored orbs shifted to the female, seeing she too was feeling the jog already. “Yeah…” Mav chuckled mixed in with panting, trying to think of a joke to lighten the moral, “I think this might be my workout for the month or maybe even the year.” A hint of a smile tugged the edges of his lips, but faded when he stood up straight to stretch his back. “Do you think we might run into trouble?” Yeah, it was still bothering him. “It just seems odd to me.” Twisting at his torso left then right, he nodded to Selena. “I’m ready the you are.”

Maverick wasn’t the type of man that watched the news or really paid attention to anything that had to do with contest. Contest was something he never found remotely interesting. So when the woman mentioned what happened during the contest that recently took place here in Hoenn, it took Maverick by shock. “…Oh..,” the man said in a low muffled tone, warm colored orbs turned away in hopes to not to see what he would only assume to be pain in her eyes from the loss of a pokemon, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Maverick could only imagine what she felt at that moment when she found out her pokemon was not longer with her and when these thoughts crossed her mind once more. Although the man had no idea what kind of relationship she had with her pokemon, any loss had to be at least a little depressing. Memories of his past life in another region filled his thoughts, picturing losing Kimba almost brought tears to his own eyes. She saved his life numerous time back than, risking her life without a moments hesitation so he could live on another day. And now, the trainer had no idea where she was or if she was still even alive. Before Maverick would let his emotions come out in front of a stranger, the man let out a light chuckle. Breaking his train of thought to something else as she motioned to keep going.

He nodded, a faint genuine grin spread across his once placid face. “I’m sure anyone who sees your blaziken would know you mean business. Your blaziken could easy kick my ass that’s for sure,” the man chuckled lightly, trying to lighten the mood as he tried to playfully nudge her before he readied himself to start running again, “But yeah. Let’s keep going.” Azula, who was wrestling with the arcanine just a few feet in front of them, overhead their conversation. The houndoom’s passed their little play fight to gaze in their direction. She did not find his comment very amusing, her own ruby colored gaze shifted to the tall fire and fighting type pokemon as though the pokemon was going to actually do it. Her lip start to raise but Evo nipped at her side and she was distracted once more.

The man fell silent for a long time, unsure of really what to say. Small talk was still not his forte and he still struggled with him often. Clearing his throat after a while, his warm crimson colored orbs flickered to the gym leaders briefly before returning to the trait ahead. “Besides being a gym leader, what else do you do?” Maverick huffed out in-between gasps for air, the sun baking down on them. He could feel sweat dripping down his face, clothes began to stick to his skin from the sweat. “Do you have any hobbies you do for fun?”

Was it getting hotter outside or was it just him? Beads of sweat slowly rolled down the side of his face as he kept a light brisk pace with the gym leader. The man wasn’t sure whether it was exercise underneath the high sun or the sudden attention he seemed to get from the woman that made him feel as though it was hotter outside. It’s been a while sense the man been alone with a woman who didn’t just turned away from him or just ignored him. Although Maverick knew it was probably just friendly conversation, he couldn’t shake it off even as Selena got closer. He attempted to swallow the lump in his throat, though his month was too dry. It was at the moment, he realized he forgot to bring water with him.

“Journalist for Vantage, huh,” the man choked out in-between gasps for air from exhaustion as he let his gaze flickered to her for a moment to give her a polite smile before returning forward, “sounds interesting. I never really thought about who writes the articles. I mean, I knew someone did but never actually met someone who wrote them. Not that people who write them don’t get out or anything but just-” Maverick stopped his nervous ramble, realizing he was making a fool out of himself if he kept going. Scratching the back of his head, he moved on in hopes to recover. “Oh! Me?” No one really asked him those questions before. In truth, it threw him off guard for a moment. It also made him realized, what does he do? “…Ahh…” He chuckled lightly, gathering his thoughts for he spoke again. “I just moved at the start of the year, been traveling around looking for a good place to stay for a while.” Not to mention, looking for his pokemon he lost before coming to hoenn and collecting new pokemon to rebuild his team. Trying to redeem himself from his last failed attempt to be a champion back home. Training to one day challenge all the gym leaders, including her, to be possible champion here. But, she didn’t need to know all that. And really, she probably didn’t care like most others. “I have heard hoenn is a great place to stay and pokemon are plentiful. I can tell you this, it’s a lot better than the place I came from. Haha.”

Now that, was the truth. It felt like almost every few months some kind of chaos wrecked the region in some kind of shape or form. If not natural disasters, legendary pokemon or some else would bring a mess of trouble. It was nice knowing you would live another day here. In hopes to keep the conversation going and away from his boring life, Maverick tried to get her talking about herself more. It also kept his mind away from dying from the heat and/or collapsing from exhaustion. “Did you grow up here or did you move here?”

To be honest, this was the longest conversation the man had with someone in very very long time. It was also the most anyone really got to know him. It kind of was weird, but nice at the same time. It made him feel all weird inside. This was a new feeling that he wasn’t really sure about. At the mention of Kalos, the man nodded and replied. “Never been there myself.” And when she guess where he was from, she was correct. How did she know? He chuckled light, a sly grin spread across his lips. “Is it that obvious? What gave it away?” He never really thought about what gave people the impression he was from Kanto. Did he have a accent or something?

Maverick could feel himself sweating more and more, body damp to the touch. Definitely going to have to take a shower after this one. The man could only hope he didn’t stink. Taking a deep breath, he pressed on wondering if there was even an end. By now, the canine’s has had their fun and held a few paces in front of him at their own steady jog. Both the houndoom and arcanine’s had their mouth slightly parted with tongue out panting from the amount of exercises they were doing as well. But suddenly, the woman got a burst of energy and pushed forward. Maverick sighed, not sure if he really had the energy but pushed himself to keep up.

But when he tried to catch up, he came to an abrupt stop. Warm colored orbs flickered to the woman when she spoke, giving her a nod and reached into his pockets to pull out his ball. With a simply flick of the wrist, the ball burst open to reveal the blue scaly creature known as Dratini. “Tharisiron, can you break up some of these rocks for us? Use outrage.” Maverick turned to the woman in a warming. “I would stand back.” With that, the scarred male moved back and his canine’s did too. At first, nothing happened. The little blue dragon just sat there. But then suddenly, his body became outlined with a red aura. His eyes became to glow with rage and soon, the creature began to smash some of the rocks. He slammed his body into them, breaking up a few before he suddenly stopped. Knowing what was about to happen, the man called him back to the safety of the pokeball. Turning to the woman again, he shrugged. “That’s all I got with me today other than an Umbreon and a honchkrow. Is that enough to get by you think?”

With his little dragon not providing the right kind of destruction, the gym leader once again proved to Maverick why he was superior. The man watched at the fire and fighting type kicked the large rock with just one move. The rock shattered into pieces and was just enough strength to let them through the path. Although the man didn’t show it, he could feel his own pride be knocked down a peg or two. His warm gaze shifted to the woman, a flash of a smile appeared on his face before he turned away. Maverick really needed to start trying his pokemon to become stronger. With the rock cleared from their path, Maverick motioned for the canine’s to continue. Azula darted in front of them, Evo followed quickly after, while Azar remained by his side panting.

Vibe? What kind of vibe told her he was Kanto? Kanto people had a vibe. His gaze turned back to her, a soft chuckle escaped him. “Yeah. You’re right? I am from Kanto. I was born in Lavender Town before our house burnt down.” Mav turned away for a moment, eyes closed as memories of the fire flashed before his eyes. Oddly enough, that was the only thing he remembered from his childhood in Kanto. The hot flames, smell of smoke and burning flesh, the agony of being burned alive. Before he let the past consume him, he turned back to the woman. His once light expression shifted to pain though he tried not to show it. “We move to Sinnoh after that. When I was of age, traveled around a little bit. Worked in the mines for a few years.” Why was he telling this stranger about his past? He didn’t even know her, yet it came out without much thought behind it. “Found the love of dark types. Overcame my fear of fire with handling fire types. Seen the raw power of dragons, had to test myself with those.” He kept his history short, she didn’t really care. Did she? “But after what happened at my last home, I decide to try out Hoenn. And, here I am?”

At this point, Maverick started to fall into a light jog again. And when he was done talking, he fell silent. His thoughts ranged from his Kanto life, Sinnoh life, and Mysste life all at the come time. And after all that, what does he really have to show for himself? He lost his former team and hasn’t spoke with his family in years. The man had no really friends, a lone wolf. Clearing his throat, Maverick tried to turn it to her again. “How about you? What’s your story?” This was a new to him and really, it felt kind of night. “If you don’t mind me asking.”