“Of course I will give you my best,” she replied, once more laughing. Granted, she had not really gotten into many friendly squabbles so far. Either actual, serious fights or those with strangers. Fighting a friend would actually be a new one. But she could see it work with this one at least. They had an understanding. There still was an undercurrent of worry though that was not easy to get rid of. That she might overdo it and hurt Jo or her Pokemon needlessly, much like back then.
[break][break]
Just meant she would have to get good enough to measure her strength. That, too, was something she would have to learn before she could even think about becoming a gym leader. That and a gimmick. “Everything worth doing has probably been done before? I guess there is some truth to that. For sure. These gimmicks aren’t just there for fun anyway, but to teach others.” She rubbed the back of her neck, briefly. “Guess it’s pretty simple then, right? My gimmick should be something that teaches others the thing that was most difficult to learn for me. That seems most worthwhile, doesn’t it?”

[break][break]

+ Johanna Joy

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Well, sure, why not? But don’t think I will go easy on you,” she replied after giving it a brief thought, then she laughed once more. It was just so easy being around Jo, she could not help but be herself. With others she tended to be a bit more guarded. Not a lot, of course. But at least a bit. Granted, they each probably still had some kinds of secrets from another – everyone had, after all. But she felt like she knew enough about the other to see a kindred spirit, one that she could be caught in a feedback loop like this with.
[break][break]
Which was pretty neat, really. Megan briefly rubbed her nose as if this was a bit embarrassing, but did not stray from her course. However, the follow-up question made her shoulders sag a little. “See, that’s the stickling point of sorts. I am pretty sure I got battling down and all the jazz. But every gym needs to have a gimmick. And that gimmick is what makes or breaks it, really. I can’t really think of anything really unique at the moment, that’s why I am trying to challenge as many as possible before applying for a gym myself. If that makes any sense? Does that make sense?”

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Phew. Honestly, she did not know whether or not the little one actually meant her harm or just wanted to play or scare her away. No two wild Pokemon were alike. Something about natures, she had heard someone call it. Meg did not know the science, really, but she understood all the same. It was always best to be careful with attacking Pokemon. Any encounter with a wild Hydreigon could and would teach a gal that.
[break][break]
For now, she just took a deep breath, got up and grabbed the ball. No point trying to dust herself off or get clean, really. At least not in that sense. Her clothes would need a wash one way or another. But her face was a different matter entirely. Keeping wet mud on it was probably a bad idea, so she took off her glasses, pushed back her hood and allowed the rain to flow over her, briefly.
It was kind of refreshing, really. She enjoyed the act. And once it was finished, she started to walk back towards the exit.
[break][break]
She only had one ball left, after all. It only made sense, especially with the clock running down. However, before she could let that go to waste she saw another Pokemon. And this time, she recognized it right away. And she immediately went for a throw as well. How could she not? That was a Bagon, after all. She wanted it the moment she saw it, so she threw her strongest ball right away.

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Two for the price of one. Well, she still used up two of her four balls, so not really? But Megan still felt rather smug about having caught two in rapid succession, even rubbing her nose as if a bit embarrassed of her own prowess in catching.
[break][break]
Which evidently angered Arceus. The drizzle she had suffered so far turned into a proper downpour, one that was barely if any stopped by the foliage. And since it never rained, but properly poured, she also failed to find any more Pokemon – for at least half an hour. In fact, her safari time was running low already while even her raincoat proved insufficient to keep out all the wetness. After that initial euphoria, she found herself slogging through the mud, somewhat dejected.
[break][break]
Then something blue hopped in front of her and flung some of the mud straight in her face, causing her to reel, topple over and fall onto her butt. Fortunately, she was wearing glasses, so none got into her eyes. Otherwise, she would not have been able to take them off, reach for the ball and throw it at the Mudkip as it outright charged her for some reason.

[break][break]

+ catching mudkip

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The Treecko was caught. But not without incident. It did almost manage to escape, after all, but right before it was hit by the ball, something else got in its way, at the time impossible to see for Megan. She could hear it though. By all that was holy, she could hear it.
[break][break]
Even as the little green one disappeared into the Pokeball, the Pokemon it had run into was loudly….cawing? Crying? She didn’t know what it was called. The sound that was used to wake Pokemon at a farm, that sort of thing. Only now it was not greeting the sun. Instead, a fiery-red youngling, feathers wet from the rain, was angrily sounding its discontent over someone else bumping into it right at the ball, pecking at it in the process.
[break][break]
Evidently, it did not understand. Evidently, it had not noticed her at all yet. And even more evidently, this one was not likely to stop on its own unless she intervened. Megan threw the ball at it more to shut it up and stop it from shooing other Pokemon away, but that was a good reason too, in her book. Plus, it looked like a fighter, in a way, even though it was young. Best go get it, too.

[break][break]

+ catching torchic

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

[break][break]

True to nature, really, the first Pokemon she met in the rain was one that looked like it was native to a rain forest of sorts. Megan did not quite recall the name of the species as she spotted it between the leaves, observing her. But it noticed her in turn, so she had no time to try and recall it, either.
[break][break]
The little one already turned to leave, or maybe to leaf? Either way, it sought to hop into the foliage and she was quite certain that she would be entirely unable to catch it if it got there. Trusting her instincts that this was at least a decent one, she hence swiftly grabbed one of the balls, haphazardly took aim and sent it flying after the fleeing little green man in the hopes of catching it. Seemed like a decently smart fellow at the very least, she could make use of that.

+ attemtping to catch treecko

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

It was kind of getting too cold for these sorts of things. Which was precisely why Megan had set out to go on another safari before year’s end. It might be the last one, after all. Weather was already pretty bad. It was not quite pouring, but there was a steady drizzle in the air, which was never a good thing for outdoors activities like this.

Not the greatest. But hey, she got a discount on the whole ordeal. That was a good enough reason to fetch her yellow raincoat, a backpack, and set out into the safari zone early in the morning. Hopefully, she figured, as she walked through the still wet grass, the Pokemon themselves would at least be willing to go outside too. Would be a waste if they did not.

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Claydol went ahead. And not wanting to be outdone, Lucario followed, intent on getting to the task at hand immediately as to not waste more time underground than necessary. This was not supposed to be another extended training trip like the one they had taken in the Rustboro tunnel, after all.
[break][break]
In the meantime though, Meg briefly slung an arm around the other’s shoulder. “Now that is something alright! Congratulations, Jojo. I knew you had it in you after all.” She did remember their conversation, after all. The other had seemed a bit apprehensive to the idea at first. But, apparently, she had managed to make it work right away. Which was pretty amazing in its own right. “I know what you mean though. Scheduling a gym battle is soooo difficult. It takes a lot to just prepare yourself and when you are done, wam you have to wait ages to even try. One day, I will open my own gym and I will make sure to keep those queues as short as possible!”
[break][break]
Admittedly, while she said that with conviction with regards to the queues, she was still hesitant to even try for the gym leader part in general, definitely not feeling ready yet. Or maybe she just did not want to put her roots down anywhere for the time being.

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Ow.” It didn’t really hurt all that much. That ball had less been thrown at her but rather bumped into her, really. Still though, she was quite surprised, so she half-turned towards the thing that had come down the slope and against her arm like that.
[break][break]
Then a flash of light and a freaking Tyranitar emerged from the ball with a roar that she did not quite identify as a confused one. Instead, Megan blinked at it, confused herself, before getting a bit grumpy. “Hey, big guy, what are you roaring at me? I didn’t come down to mess with you here. Now, whoever your trainer may be and whyever they wanted to get rid of you, you best get back in the ball. I am not going to lead you to the Pokemon Center so you can find mommy. Get back in and I will get you there. Stay out here and roar and I will punch you in the face.”
[break][break]
Which, granted, was probably not the best idea, given that this was a big rock thing. But she figured that asserting her dominance was the best course of action here.

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Well, it ain’t exactly the most common thing in the world these days. We get all our products fully made and pre-packaged anyway. Metal least of all, come to think of it.” In fact, she briefly pondered when she had last sold or bought anything that she could at least tell was made of metal. From a normal store, that was. She did have some more specialized places to go to, after all.
[break][break]
Briefly, she eyed her Pokeball as they walked, but she heard that those were made from apricorn, not metal. Didn’t really make much sense to her, but she did not mind things being more sustainable at all. Either way, she briefly fished into her pocket and retrieved three nuggets. “They gave me this for reference. Copper’s the orange-ish one, tin the darker of the greys. Just look out for that sort of stuff.” She shrugged, again. They probably could just try to Pokedex it and find some result. There had to be a copper Pokemon a tin and an iron one, after all.
“Anyway, did you ever challenge a gym in the meantime, like we talked about?”

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Heh. Seemed like Jo was cheering up already. Operation joke introduction was a success. Operation find a good name for the operation, however, was not. Ushering the other forth into the entrance to the old mine, Megan gave Jo a brief but hearty pat on the back. “Well, I’d wager the Pokemon will do the actual mining. They are kind of better at that than us. Don’t even need tools. Of which I didn’t really bring any.” Instead, her backpack which she now grabbed on the way in was empty, just in case they needed it to carry more.
[break][break]
Then, she grabbed one of the buckets left there as well, motioning for her partner to get the other one. Sure, Pokemon could carry that, too, but she liked to feel as if she was doing something useful at least. “It’s really not that difficult. Folks around here haven’t really taken to strip-mining the place. Only take what they need, at least so far. Which means we got a shopping list, though the guy back at base told me to just eye-ball how much we need. Mostly Iron, some copper and then some tin. You’ve ever seen that kind of still pre-processin?”

[break][break]

+ Johanna Joy

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Heh. She had not expected that kind of entrance. But she didn’t mind it. Teleportation did seem quite convenient, really. But Megan liked having more control over every movement, flying about the place and such. Plus, it let you look out for other points of interest. Teleportation was awfully single-minded in a way.
[break][break]
Either way though, Meg bounced off of her stone slab, hopping a foot ahead as she slithered to a stand. “And a hearty ‘Hi’ to you too, hon,” she replied with a smile and a quick nod of her own. Then, she crossed her arms. “Long time no see. Well, not that long, but still. Last we checked in, we weren’t living under a dome and stuff. But before we have any talks about that, let me ask you one question: are you ready to show some rocks who’s boss, mine some ore and find some mineral with extreme prejudice? Because if so, I can promise you a pretty nifty reward after!”
[break][break]
Megan did hold that staunch-seeming intro for a bit, though she would burst laughing a bit once the other replied, one way or another, making it clear that she was joking here.

[break][break]

+ Johanna Joy

[attr="class","pokeclass"]