Kee laughed a bit. Compared to him and Aaron, Derek looked pretty bland. "Don't worry about it too much, compared to me and Aaron, he looks pretty bland and fairly forgettable." The eldest of them didn't have the bright blond hair nor the amber eyes of the two younger brothers, and unlike them, was fairly average in height. Even if Kee and Aaron were below average height, their personalities and other physical traits kind of made them stand out a little bit. The woman didn't seem to mind that much about him walking. So off to the outskirts they went.

Then after walking a few minutes, she realized she hadn't introduced herself. Which, neither had he, and also had him sorta panicking as well. "R-right, sorry. I'm Keenan Toral. Nice to meet you. Me and my younger brother are just starting out. I'm heading towards Rustboro for a gym challenge..." And he hoped to find out what he wanted to do one day. Aaron was kind of debating between a couple of things, but he still had to go through school first. Keenan looked at the Lycanroc. "So cool...I have a Houndour that's recovering right now from capturing a Granbull..." Kee was at a bit of a loss at what else to say. Though after a bit, he hoped he didn't offend the Rapidash or Mudsdale...

Noah seemed pretty confident in Keenan, making him look away and blush. The encouragement made him smile, especially if he'll always have an ally in the gym leader should they ever run into Rocket. Though at the thought of making his brother jealous, Aaron snorted as their mother gave a mischievous grin. "I have the day off, and know enough how to referee Pokemon battles. Littleroot does have a small nursing station for injured Pokemon, so it should be alright. If all three of you are up for one on one matches. Just to test yourselves against a gym leader. At least, I'm assuming you brought more than just your cute Electrike with you."

"Oh...um...I mean...if Noah doesn't mind...I'm sure Houndour could use the practice..." Keenan kind of twitched in his seat. He was curious how he matched up right now, and how far he needed to go.

Aaron piped up. "Trevenant needs something to do beyond scarring kids and giving loggers a heart attack. Again, if Noah doesn't mind."

While Keenan was readjusting his belt, he heard unusual laughter. It didn't exactly take long to notice a Ghastly. His little brother would adore the ghost. The children may have noticed it, but ran away from it. Walking over to the laughing Pokemon, he noticed it had something very familiar. "Nice to know your trainer is going to be helpful...and yourself. By the way, is it really that funny?" The blonde was oblivious. He certainly wasn't embarrassed that anyone saw what he had underneath his capris. If Adrian had grabbed the next layer and stripped them off, then that would be a different story. Nevertheless, he grabbed the Pokeball. Opening it, it revealed his Grubbin.

"Hey Grubby. We have a bit of a dilemma on our hands and I need you to be brave. Think you can do that for me?" The bug tilted her head cutely and Kee explained the situation. And a tentative plan. Thankfully, Grubbin knew string shot. And that was going to be their ace in the hole. Kee could be a little shit when he wanted to be. And the plan was set. Now, it was time to find the brats. Kee listened to their giggling, and stood outside a door just off to the kitchen. He peeked inside, just to make sure they weren't paying attention to the entrance, and moved to the other side.

He listened to them calm down, then check on their loot. Aimi immediately started to panic when she saw only five pokeballs. That Ghastly was very useful. Poking his head out, he stuck his tongue out at them, making a noise to alert them. While also tossing Grubbin's empty pokeball up and catching it with one hand. Both kids got angry, and started to chase him. Kee went past the kitchen back into the foyer. Behind a decoration lied Grubbin in wait...

Kee was happy for what he caught. But it was time to head back to Oldale. The guy was weird. Completely ignored him, and said something about power. He and Houndour kind of backed away, and ran back into the forest. He was going to head back to town. What a creeper. And definitely sounded like something a rocket would say. He better tell his baby bro about it...

~spawn skip and exit thread.

The Magmar used fire blast, and nearly KO'd the Dottler. Kee watched his puppy as a gleam hit his own eye. The man caught that pokemon too. "So yeah, nice catches. Going on a catching spree or just exploring?" His Houndour walked calmly up to the Magmar and sat down and started to bark a little bit. Not in a hostile way, but more of a friendly, hi, how did you do that kind of way. The blonde was already sweatdropping. Did that mean he was going to try to teach his Houndour one of the strongest fire type attacks so soon? Kee was about talk some more when his Houndour suddenly stood up and sniffed the air. That wasn't good...usually. He darted around Kee and the new person and started to growl a bit.

A wild Ariados angrily stared them down. It looked...really cool. "Well, I didn't plan on catching any bug Pokemon...but hey, spiders are cool. Houndour, use Ember." The puppy pokemon opened his mouth and fired little fire balls at the spider pokemon. It dodged once, but got hit by the second blast. It still let out a string of web from its mouth and used constrict on Houndy. But it didn't do much damage, and the fire type pulled on the web, and Ariados, closer. "Use Bite." Once the Ariados was close enough, Houndour bit the bug on the leg and slammed it towards a tree. It didn't do much damage, but the previous ember attack did a fair amount. Still, now as the time. Kee took out a pokeball, and threw it.

Adrian scurried off as a new voice rang out to him. Ah, must be his help. She seemed more...hands off though, particularly in this situation. She also sounded and looked more like a business woman. While Kee...well, he wore a red T-shirt with a Snubbull design on it, baby blue capris, and rainbow colored sneakers. He was very visible. Kee decided to make a remark at her. "Houndour I'm not worried about, same with Tyrunt. Poor Spheal is going to be too easy on them, Sizzilepede will burn both them and the house down, Grubbin will hide behind Spheal or Houndour, and I have no clue how Beldum is going to react. So yeah, I am slightly worried how they're going to treat my friends. So, if you don't have anything useful to add, I'm going to hunt some brats..." Yes, he was a little bit aggressive to her. But the least she could do is help!

So he stomped off. He went to the second floor, where the little girl, Aimi, had caught the three Pokeballs Adrian had tossed. He opened each room and looked thoroughly before moving on to the next one, listening carefully for any giggles. The boy seemed to have disappeared for now, but he heard little girl giggling. Dashing out, he saw her at the end of the hall, where he just came from with one of his Pokeballs in hand, the rest likely in the little purse she had. Growling, he took a step before looking around. Yep, she had rigged a few traps. That, or he didn't see them the first time, and didn't trigger them somehow.

And so he ran after her. First, doing a front-flipping to avoid the first trap, going into a roll, then zigzagging like a boss between the second round of traps, and almost dancing between the last set. Aimi ran off in shock down the stairs. Keenan jumped the stairs, and managed to trap her between the stairs and him. Then Adrian struck, and managed to pull down his britches down to his ankles before pushing him, making Keenan face plant onto the floor. It also revealed his bright pink boxer briefs. Which made both kids laugh hysterically before running off again. Rubbing his nose, Kee got up and pulled his pants up. And tightened his belt up another couple notches. And the chase continued...

Both Aaron and Kee piled on the food and started chowing down like the ravenous teenagers that they were. It was good to hear that it wasn't anything like Team Rocket being in the area. Just quite literally passing through. He did compliment Keenan, making him blush a little, about having a good support system. Though he did ask if he tried to follow his parents' footsteps a little bit. "Both fields require at least a college education, though dad's would be easiest for in the field learning. I'm good enough with computers to not need to go to mom for everything, but I'm still just a basic computer literate teenager, like most people are. So there's really nothing I can do to help mom out and just listening to the tales of what she had to do before getting into her current position makes me cringe. Dad's job is more hazardous, but also more exciting I guess. But...yeah...never took me with him for anything because I think of Team Rocket. Sure, there is the risk that I'll run into them during my adventure, but there's a guarantee with him." Keenan shrugged.

"Plus, ancient ruins are very dangerous even without Team Rocket. He'll need a proper Pokemon team to help him with that. His Houndour is fairly well trained, but it takes more than that. Experience helps tremendously. That's why I think your Tyrunt will certainly be one of your more powerful Pokemon friends." Their mother came in wiping her hands with a towel before sitting down and started digging in herself. "I don't really have much advice, aside from keeping your wits about you and make smart choices. And when you inevitably get into serious trouble, trust not only in yourselves, but in your Pokemon as well. They're as much your family as we are. Mr. Faber, I hope your gym will teach some valuable skills to my son. Even if you do have to knock him out a time or two." The chubby woman winked at Noah as Aaron chuckled and Keenan groaned.

Kee's Grubbin went back to his shoulder as they got done. But at the tone of her voice, it did make him do sort of a deadpan resting bitch face. Oh, you did not challenge him about that. He did that out of the kindness of his heart, not to be rewarded for it. And luckily, he did have a pokemon that knew smokescreen. She quickly changed the subject to his brother. "Oh, um, Derek Toral is his name. He's a Pokemon Breeder at Olivine City in Johto. But he also helps out a bit with injured Pokemon or those that need some form of physical therapy. But he's mostly a breeder and volunteered to take in any extra Pokemon I catch. He has a pretty good plot of land just outside the city..." Things change however. So Derek never went into rehabilitation full swing. Kee didn't know why not or anything, but he assumed that his brother just wasn't cut out for more medical related stuff.

He put his backpack on as he waited for her. And then he would walk beside her. Until...it became apparent that she wanted him to ride on Rapidash. While he had no doubt the horse Pokemon could handle it, he's never ridden a Pokemon before. At least not in earnest. Playfully, when he was a kid, yeah...his mom's Walrien and Arcanine were always fun playmates, as was her Steelix. He nervously looked at the Pokemon, then back at her. If she was a nice looking young man, he might have been a bit more willing to give it a try. "I think I'll walk, if you don't mind. I may be skinny, but I'm not that much out of shape." Says a guy that could very well become an idol if he so desired.

doing this with Evette Moreau

The Pokeball wiggled for a few seconds as Keenan watched the man send out a Magmar and blast the Skorupi. After a single hit, the man also threw a Pokeball. Both of them caught their respective pokemon. Kee walked over to his own, and picked it up. It wasn't long before it glowed and disappeared to his brother's place. Turning to his Grubbin, he picked her up and snuggled her, earning a happy cry. "You did fantastic. Really, very nice job. You enjoy a good rest." He returned her to her pokeball. That Skorupi was pretty cool too, but finders keepers. He smiled at the guy and waved. "Nice catch!" He started to walk over.

Only to trip up over an unusually large leaf and make him fall flat on his face. Turning to his side, he looked back to see a very angry Sewaddle. Flinging up a pokeball, his Houndour came out. The bug and grass type fired a razor leaf attack, as Houndour used his Ember. It burned right through it, and took down the Sewaddle. The bug was seriously hurt, and backed off and left. "Thanks Houndour..." He got up and looked over to see the man and his Magmar already in another battle. And he just waited.

Keenan got a call from his father. The man had a friend or acquaintance or something with a very affluent family. They're on vacation to here in Hoenn during the summer, then will go back to Alola when school starts back up again. But they were going to dine out and do some other activities, and needed a babysitter on such short notice. Aaron, the lucky bastard, had an excuse not to go with him. He still had summer homework to do. And so the five foot eight blonde stood in front of a modest cottage. Both parents appeared with twins, one boy and one girl, about eight to ten years old. They introduced themselves, as did Keenan. At first, the father was shocked, and mentioned that Kee's dad didn't mention having more than one child. The mother gave him some cash for food, but also leaned in and told him something that made his eyes widen. "They may look like adorable angels right now, but there's a reason we've had such a high turnover rate in maids, butlers, cooks, and other hired help. We did get another person to assist you. Good luck, and only contact us for extreme emergencies. Like if someone is dying or the house is on fire. Good luck."

With that ominous warning, the duo left. Leaving him with a pair of kids who immediately snatched his pokeballs with his Pokemon. "H-hey! Give those back!" They split up, and Kee quickly decided to chase after the boy. Hopefully he can be a little bit rough with them, or at the least with the boy, named Adrian. Unfortunately, the devils had set traps, and Kee had to avoid several of them before catching Adrian. The boy threw all three pokeballs up, and his sister caught them and ran off somewhere in the two story cottage. Growling, he dropped the brat and stomped inside...

Keenan finally got to the river, where a Whiscash was laying in the sun on the edge, sleeping peacefully. It seemed pretty rude to awaken it, but he looked at Grubbin. The little bug nodded, ready for the challenge. "Alright. Go up to it and use Vice Grip on it." Whiscash wasn't the coolest looking Pokemon, but it still hit all of his buttons right for wanting to add it to his team. He watched carefully as Grubbin crawled over to the water type's tale, and used its Vice Grip attack. That woke up the fish. Startled, it started to flop around, trying to get the bug off of it. But Grubbin held on tight. Suddenly, the tail glowed and water gathered, and it slammed Grubbin in the mud with Aqua Tail. That made Grubbin let go, but Keenan reacted swiftly. "Use Mud-Slap!" Since the area around him was already muddy, Grubbin swiftly tossed some into Whiscash's eyes. It didn't do a lot of damage, especially due to type, but it did lower accuracy. And it helped too, since the Pokemon used another Aqua Tail, but hit right in front of Grubbin.

While it wasn't a direct hit or anything, it still sent the little bug type flying. Keenan caught it, and told it to use string shot. The silk tangled up the catfish looking Pokemon some, but it still used Muddy Water, sending a torrent of dirty water towards them. Kee ran off with Grubbin, but told it some instructions, and tossed it up. Kee jumped to the right and down a small ledge, and saw another wild Pokemon and a trainer going at it. Grubbin, for her part, kept watch as it dropped. That Whiscash did follow them, clearly angry. She used Bug Bite on the top fin, making the fish panic, even rolling right in front of Keenan and making a huge scene.

But Grubbin never let go! She was going to prove herself to her trainer! She toughed it out before getting knocked off. "Use Mud-Slap again!" The bug slapped more mud into Whiscash's eyes. But it didn't flail as badly as before...was it tired too? Kee could see that Grubbin was pretty banged up too, but she was being a champ. He still decided to try it. He took out a Pokeball, and threw it at the wild fish, hoping to catch it. And hoped their battle didn't distract the other trainer dealing with a Skorupi.

The Mudsdale started to nudge the lady a bit, and he soon saw why. She cut herself a tiny bit on broken glass. There wasn't enough room on the other side though. She said she could fix the tear with soem twine, but seemed to have changed her mind at his offer. She was pretty sure he'd heard of her, though her name still escaped him. But the business rang a huge bell for him. "Oh! I thought you looked vaguely familiar, my older brother took me there a few times! He wanted to do something similar in Johto, he's in Olivine right now. Yeah, I'll go grab my bag...if we pack it right, it should be large enough. But don't worry about the compensation." He set the bottles down carefully, and patted his Grubbin, letting it know that he'll be right back.

He ran quickly to his hotel room, busting in, grabbing his empty bag, and leaving, making Aaron just shake his head and continue working on homework. When Kee got back, Grubbin had all the broken pieces in a pile, ready for careful disposal. And most of the unbroken bottles and packages in a neat pile. Keenan had also grabbed a band-aid too. "Back! And I got a band-aid for you too...just be sure to wash the cut after we get you back there and put on a fresh one. Oh, nice job, Grubbin." He gave his little buddy a few pats on the head, earning some nice bug-like chirps from the Pokemon. Giving her the band-aid when her hands weren't full, he'd carefully start piling stuff in his backpack. While it was certainly full, it still carried everything that was good yet just fine, without any risk of tearing. Kee wasn't completely the social type, he was sort of quiet. But you could spark just about any kind of conversation with him.