Peaceful Walks and Gentle Breezes

It was a chilly morning, something that Summer had only just begun to get used to in the few days that she'd stuck around Kloudecord for. The hill that the city was located on meant that it was almost always windy, especially in early morning as they were so high up. It was a stark difference to the always heated routes near Mearmorea, where the nearby volcano would almost always keep the area warm.

Summer looked out across the moors and forest that surrounded Kloudecord, her long red ponytail blowing in the wind behind her. She'd opted to go up to the highest point in the peaceful city and finally take a look at the astounding views around her. She was in no way disappointed either. Soren and Soleila looked out from their perches on Summer's shoulder and head respectively, the Larvesta in a positive mood already since she'd claimed her spot on her trainer's head back from the young Eevee.

"It really is incredible here," Summer mused to herself. She'd spent a few days in order to see all the sights before moving on. She'd have loved to have challenge Kloudecord's gym, but the resident gym leader, Sirrus, was known for her extremely powerful pokemon and Summer was nowhere near that level... yet.

She'd get there though. Eventually.
As she proudly imagined her pokemon friends defeating Sirrus, Summer couldn't stop a positive smile from gracing her features.
"This view totally psyches me up!" grinned Summer suddenly, shouting her words to the wind.

Sean was holding onto both the Staraptor and Kasai, so he wouldn't fall off, and so the Fennekin wouldn't fly away, either. He was starting to feel sick, he didn't know how much his stomach would be churning his breakfast he had before he found the trainer at the local postal office. He felt like if he didn't hold on tight, he would fall off, puking along the way.

"Are we almost there yet?" He yelled over the wind, which the rushing made him light-headed, and the wind itself gave him chills. "I feel like I'm gonna get sick!" He mumbled to himself.

"Almost there!" She yelled back, "Do you wanna go faster?" "Nonononono! I mean, um, it's fine just like it is!" The live-off-the-land country boy replied loudly, "Just not used to the altitude! You know, I like it on the ground, where I'm, you know, SAFE!"

Sean looked down and saw that there was a hilly area with large mounds of land. "Finally, we're here."

"Here's your stop! Now jump!" The girl said, Sean looking at her like she was crazy. "Don't worry, it's safe!"

"If you say so!" Sean held on tight to Kasai, let go of the Staraptor, and jumped, landing quickly on the highest point of the town. "OH SWEET SWEET LAND! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! Wait, what's that feeling?" The country boy felt the vomit coming, and tried his hardest to keep if from expelling, not noticing girl trying to hold in her laugh at Sean, Kasai attempting to bring him back to reality.

"Here's your stop! Now jump!"

Summer heard an unfamiliar voice coming from a short distance away and saw a Staraptor flying at quite a considerable speed towards the open observatory area. She'd heard about their sky ferry service and that some chose to drop people off here but she hadn't actually seen any of the trainers who volunteered their services.

Quickly, it seemed that the guy who was riding the Staraptor along with the trainer heeded her words, letting go and dropping to the ground. Summer watched the female trainer go, making a mental note about how badass bird pokemon could be. She was quickly distracted however by the words of the guy who had just leaped from the staraptor's back.

"OH SWEET SWEET LAND!" he yelled, "I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!"

Summer found herself trying to hold in laughter at the guy's over-reaction to being back on dry land. Soon enough though she found that she couldn't quite hold it in and began laughing openly, ignoring the death glare that her partner pokemon, Soleila was giving her. Summer's crimson eyes practically danced with amusement before she wandered over to the guy. He looked like he was trying to keep his breakfast down.
"You alright there?" she asked, finally quieting her laugh as she realised he might actually throw up.

Sean looked up at the girl that he just noticed was there, his dark brown hair getting in his eyes, slightly obscuring his vision. The girl's red hair was in a pony tail, a Larvesta was one he head, an Eevee on her shoulder. His glasses were askew, so his vision was partially blurred, too. His Fennekin was pushing on the farm boy, still trying to bring him back.

"Kasai, can you stop that," He said soothingly, "I won't start to feel any better if you keep shaking me. And now that I'm on grass, dirt, land, I can finally settle down, to answer your question, um, didn't quite catch your name. Anyways, I'm Sean, Sean Red. But most call me Suds, but I don't know why, I'm always dirty." He extends his hand, partly covered with dry mud. He gestured to his Pokemon, "And this is Kasai, my Fennekin. Do you know where a guy could get some food around here? I'm starving!"

"So you felt sick because you were flying on that badass bird?" chuckled Summer, pulling out her PokéNav to look up the bird's species, "That's kinda lame."
After finding out that the bird was in fact a Staraptor, a pokemon most commonly found in the Sinnoh region, Summer turned back to the guy who had just introduced himself.

"Sorry!" she grinned sheepishly, having become rather distracted in her desire to know what pokemon had carried Sean into Kloudecord.
"I'm Summer and this is Soren and Soleila," she smiled, motioning to the Eevee and the Larvesta in turn as she introduced them. She then grasped his hand, not particularly caring that it was muddy. She wasn't one to be too fussed with getting dirty like the stereotypical female teenager, instead ignoring it. Clothes could always be washed after all, and if you wash every day anyways, what did it matter if you got a little dirty?

"Nice to meet you both," she chuckled, shaking his hand.
"I'm sure there's somewhere in town you could get some food from. I've only been here a few days but I can probably show you a few places if you like," Summer grinned, slipping her PokéNav back in her bag and crossing her arms.
"I'm not paying though so you'd better have money!"

"That would be nice, Summer." Sean replied simply, "And yea, I have money, I've been working since I was 13, two years ago." The trainer picked up his Fennekin and put her on his shoulder. His grey-blue eyes scanned over the scene, and he saw the beautiful scene of the town. "Wow, this place is beautiful! It reminds me the mountains I read about that are in Sinnoh." He looked back at Summer. "I'm ready to go now!"

Summer glanced over to Sean as he looked out at the view from the top of the observatory. This guy was so confusing. He'd nearly thrown up at flying on a Staraptor but when looking at a height from the 'ground' of the observatory he'd been fine? It couldn't be just a simple out of control fear of heights then...
Nevertheless before Sean had said he was ready Summer had absent-mindedly wandered off, heading down the path that lead down from the observatory and into the main body of the city.
"You're gonna get left behind if you're gonna be that slow!" she called back to him, his words of being ready to leave reaching her ears. She paused to wait for a few seconds before turning and jogging the rest of the way down, using her lead to her advantage as if the journey down from the observatory had been a race all along.

The country boy heard the teenage girl's call, and realizing what was coming, ran off after her, already catching up. "Now who's slow?" He asked, passing her. "Eat my dust!" He called back when he was farther down. He looked back, not seeing her, though it was a good time to take a break, and found an iced tea in his bag. He uncovered the top, taking a great swig, feeling rejuvenated ready to get back on running. He got Kasai back on his shoulder, since she got off for a bit to stretch, and he got back into position. His jaw dropped when he saw Summer already catching up, already as fast as he was before, and set off again, gaining momentum, and already next to her again, but at top speed, as well.

Having been merely jogging, Summer was rather surprised when Sean shot past her like a rocked, leaving a trail of dust in his wake on the pathway. Wherever he was from he definitely didn't seem like a slacker if he could run like that.
"Oh it's on now!" she yelled after him, quickly picking up speed, her red ponytail flowing in the wind behind her. She'd show him. She was carrying two pokemon and running just as fast, catching up and passing him as he sipped his tea.
"Shouldn't have been so cocky!" she yelled as she continued running, feeling the fire of competition in her veins as she did so. He soon caught up again, but it appeared the two were at a stalemate as they finally reached the bottom of the observatory area, Summer nearly crashing into someone who had been about to head up the path they'd just come down from. She'd narrowly dodged to the side of said individual with a quick spin, glad that her reflexes were fast enough to perform such a manoeuvre in such a short space of time.

Pausing to catch her breath, Summer then threw her fists in the air.
"YES!" she yelled, "I totally won that!" she called. Though it wasn't actually clear who had officially won, she had decided to claim the title before Sean could. Soleila rolled her eyes from where she clung to Summer's head and the timid Eevee on her shoulder loosened his tiny claws from her clothing, wishing he'd had a bit more warning before she'd run off like that.

Hearing some shouting from the base of the observatory, the gentleman decided to wander down to ground level again. Maybe there was an argument the resolving of which he could be of assitance with.
However, when he reached the observatory's exit again, there were no quarreling trainers to be found, but rather one quite familiar face the Friendship Rater would not have expected to meet in a place like this.
"Oh, hello there. It is quite the surprise meeting you here.", Martin exclaimed, while Sera once again was almost jumping out of her trainer's arms in order to hug the girl.
Since Martin was still holding her though, she had to settle for some excited cheering.
"And greetings to you as well.", he addressed the other person.
"My name is Martin and this is Sera. It is a pleasure making your acquaintance."

Sean heard Summer's cry of victory, even though she didn't really win, it was more of a tie, he decided not to get into an argument. Kasai looked over a the gentleman coming over, and pulled on the youth's shirt with her mouth to get his attention. When that didn't work, she jumped off his shoulder and started to growl playfully at the newcomer.

"Kasai!" Sean exclaimed, "What are you doing?" He looked up to see a man with a Togepi in his arms that was cheering excitedly. He greeted Summer, like he had met her before, and introduced himself to the country teen. "Took the words straight out of my mouth! I'm Sean, but most call me Suds. This is Kasai, she's as playful as she could possibly be." His stomach growled loudly, "And I'm as hungry as I could possibly be! Bet I could eat the entire restaurant if I had enough money! Let's get going, Summer! Martin, would you like to join us, I'm buying!"

Summer lowered her arms, well aware that the race had in fact been a tie. Sean apparently hadn't wanted to fight for the title though, so that was fine to her. His loss if he didn't want to come and claim it after all!

Hearing a familiar voice, she turned to see the gentleman with the Togepi, recognising him from shortly after she'd left her hometown of Mearmorea.
"Ohey I remember you," she smiled, pointing briefly as if illustrating to herself exactly who she was trying to bring up memories of.
"Your Togepi is still adorable as ever," she grinned. She still felt a little guilty about sidelining him whilst she battled Celine for Soleila's honour, but nevertheless there was no time like the present to make amends and move on.

Summer was distracted for a moment, but was shaken from her thoughts by Sean's stomach growling, to which she chuckled light-heartedly. Sean casually invited Martin along, to which Summer had no quarrel with, though she did pause to question;
"Does that mean I get free food too?" she asked, bouncing on her toes as if ready to sprint off towards the nearest restaurant.

"Pii!", the Fairy type exclaimed cheerfully, thoroughly happy about the compliment.
"Oh, and I hope you decide against eating the restaurant. The floorboards tend to give one terrible indigestion.", Martin joked.
"Now then, thank you for your more than kind offer, but we couldn't possibly accept. There may be times when you'll be in need of money, so be sure to spend it responsibly."
This young trainer Summer was traveling with certainly seemed to be an energetic and optimistic person. If he could learn a bit of self-control, then he would most likely not have too many difficulties in life. Mr. Ashdown found himself a bit envious at the joyful carelessness of the younger generation.

The energized teen chuckled along with the man, realizing his word choice. He was suddenly saddened by the response to his question. "Oh, well, if you insist. But I do have enough money for all of us to eat until we would have enough food for a full hibernation, all my work I did in West Grove and all." Sean said with a small frown glazed on his face. "Well, at least I can still eat with Summer! Can't wait until I have my energy rejuvenated from food!"

Kasai jumped back onto Sean's shoulder, saying goodbye with a cheerful "Fennec!" and waved to the man and his Togepi. "Have a nice day, Martin!"

Summer reluctantly stopped bouncing around on the tips of her feet as the conversation continued, Sean not answering her question directly, but not denying that there would be free food either. He seemed about ready to leave, but Martin didn't seem like he would accept the worker's generous offer any time soon.
"How about you come along, but pay for your own food then?" she suggested, not wanting to leave him behind. After all she still felt that little twinge of guilt about their first meeting, and wanted to make it up to him and Sera somehow.
"I know a lovely little restaurant that caters for both people and pokemon. I'm sure Sera would love it too," she smiled cheerfully, Soleila resisting a cheer whilst Soren his his face in Summer's clothing at all the new people that were appearing.

"Well, that was what I was hoping to imply.", the gentleman chuckled.
"I have my own money and I don't see a reason why I should drain this fellow's ressources when I am perfectly capable of paying for myself. Noble as it would have been, I did not become a Friendship Rater solely for the experience."
Indeed Mr. Ashdown wasn't too poor himself and considering that his expenses for things like Pokéballs and Potions were much lower than those of the average trainer, there really was no reason for him not to finance himself.
"So, may you have a nice day as well, Sean, but you are not getting rid of us just yet."

Sean hadn't thought about Martin having money, in his joy of getting food. "Oh, I didn't want to be rid of any of you just yet! I'm just really hungry, didn't think much about anything else." His glasses gleamed in the sunlight, his dark hair getting messier than it already was from his not so soft landing. He looked over at the fiery haired girl that had just suggested a restaurant. "Well then, show us the way, my lady! It's time to get some grub!" "Fennec!" The orange Pokemon chimed in, expressing her delight at the idea of food, who had the stomach equivalent to Sean's, proportionately, of course.

Their stomachs both growled at the same time, and the teen chuckled at himself and his partner. "Well, that settles it, we need food!"

Summer chuckled hesitantly with a weak smile, "I guess i'm the only one that doesn't have any money then." As usual, Soleila reacted with a small noise of contempt, acting as if her trainer was silly for not having any money of her own. Of course she didn't actually think this, she just was reluctant to show that she actually cared.

Reaching up to pet Soren on the head in the hopes of easing his nerves, Summer laughed at the growling of Sean and Kasai's stomachs.
"Alright," she beamed, "The restaurant is this way." Summer pointed down a nearby street before making to lead the others towards it, "It's a cute little place called Lily's Bistro. She's got her own special recipes for the pokemon food and everything. She even let me help prepare Lei-Lei's food when I came here to eat yesterday!"

"Hm, if it bothers you to lack financial means and you get along well with the owner, then maybe you could try taking up a job there? You do seem to enjoy cooking."
A smirk appeared on Martin's face as he added:
"And I'm sure one of the perks would be free food."
Indeed this seemed to be quite a good idea for the girl to improve her monetary situation, even though the Friendship Rater figured she would most likely not like staying in one place so long to hold a job there much. But if it worked, then it would also lead to her getting into less battles and thus make the world a tiny bit more peaceful.

Sean followed the other teen with his partner on his shoulder, licking her lips hungrily. "Working at a place for free food would seem like a good idea for me, except that my kind of work is outside on the farm, not inside." The boy from West Grove added. "Also, I want to get all the badges, maybe even become the champion one day!" Kasai jumped up in glee, but fell off Sean's shoulder in the process. "Fennec! Fen!" The Fennekin yelped on the way down.

Sean just laughed gleefully, already getting his partner to do the same with him. "You have got to find better times to jump off my shoulder! When we're moving is not a good time!" The teen grabbed Kasai around her waist, putting her back on his shoulder.

"Free food would be quite a perk," Summer agreed with a chuckle, "And though that is a really good idea, i'm afraid I won't be staying in Kloudecord for very long as I plan on travelling all of Harmony and collecting the badges from each of the gyms," she replied. It really was quite a shame to be honest. Lily was a nice person after all and cooking had been a lot more fun than she'd initially thought it would be. Nevertheless, she was set on achieving what she had set out to do. If there was a way to come to and from Kloudecord at a moment's notice perhaps she'd consider it as more of a viable option, but to her knowledge there was not such a way.

"I guess that makes us rivals in a way, Sean," she grinned, her smile laced with a mischievousness that hinted of her competitiveness, even among friends.
Summer continued to lead them down the street as they spoke, eventually they reached the quaint little bistro she had spoken of. Leading them inside, she waved to the owner who was currently clearing a table as there weren't many others in the restaurant.

"Hey, Lily!" grinned Summer, waving to the restaurant's owner, "I'm back. And this time I brought friends!"

Lily waved back with a small smile, "Nice to see you again Summer! Do you three want the corner table?" she asked. Her tone was quiet and polite, but loud enough to be heard by the trio.

Giving a wry chuckle, the gentleman sighed.
"I guess I'll never understand what you all love about fighting so much. I think the only person one should try to be better than is the person one was yesterday. The kind of job I would prefer would be one in which I can help others. Doctor comes to mind, but to be honest I don't think I'd be able to deal with all that blood."
Having the wish to help others, but not being physically strong, nor particularly agile certainly did not leave too many options for professions open, so Martin was quite happy to have found his calling, even though he occassionally had to bear witness to things he'd rather never have seen.

"Anywhere is fine with me as long as I get food, Lily! By the way, I'm Sean!" The country boy said with a huge smile. "And this is Kasai!" He gestured to his Fennekin, who was ready to eat already. They went to sit down at the corner table, ready to eat all the food in the restaurant. "I'll have, um, everything, and Kasai will have, everything! We're starving!" Sean ordered for himself and his partner, waiting for the rest to order now.

As they settled down at the table, Lily disappeared to grab them each a menu, handing them out when she returned. She chuckled gently at Sean's order of 'everything' but urged him to hold onto that thought.
"I'll be back in a few minutes to take your orders, there's no need to decide right away," she smiled.
"Our pokemon selection can be found on the back if you're also interested in that," suggested Lily, noting the Fennekin and Togepi in the possession of the others, and already having met Summer's pokemon friends.

"Thanks Lily!" grinned Summer as she accepted her menu, Soren and Soleila hopping down from their perches on Summer's shoulder and head to explore the spacious restaurant. There was plenty or room so that majority of pokemon could fit in here, excluding only the very largest, such as Wailord. Summer wondered whether she should bring Pyralis out. It didn't take long for her to decide it was a good idea and she grabbed both the Houndour's pokeball and her PokeNav plus from her bag.
"You should have some fun with the others," grinned Summer, Pyra materialising before her. The Houndour stretched her legs before dashing after Soren. Though the young Eevee was usually timid, he had warmed up to Pyra rather quickly and the two had become quite close, Pyra acting almost like a guardian to the young Eevee.
"Don't get too rowdy though!" she called after them, hoping that they wouldn't cause much trouble in Lily's quaint little bistro. She'd have to keep an eye on them whilst their food was being made.

Stretching her arms, Summer turned back to her friends at the table. She'd already decided that she was going to order what she had ordered the last time she was here and so she merely flipped the menu over to look at the different options they had for pokemon.
"I'd really recommend this if you're unsure what pokemon food to get," she smiled cheerfully, pointing out one of the dishes on the back of the menu. It was a simple dish that catered to most pokemon's tastes by not being overly complicated. However Soren had found it to be quite delicious previously.

"Oh also!" Summer snapped up her PokeNav from the table and flicked through it's functions before scanning Kasai. She blinked when she realised that the Fennekin was in fact a fire type, like Lei-Lei, Pyra, and the pokemon she was used to back home.
"I didn't realise Kasai was a fire type too," she voiced her thoughts with a small smile.

Soon Lily returned to the table to take their orders, note pad and pencil in hand and a joyful smile on her face. It was clear that owning her own little bistro was something she was passionate about, and it was this aspect of her that had caused Summer to enjoy her company as much as she had the previous time she was here.

Sera could be found studying the menu, a thoughtful expression on her face. Obviously she was incapable of deciding what she wanted for Martin to order in her name.
Martin meanwhile had heard Summer's comment and decided to join the conversation:
"A helpful guide to identifying a Pokémon's type can be to analyze its coloration. Most Fire types for example have mostly red, orange and yellow colours, just like a Fennekin."
This was a nice restaurant indeed. Martin found himself wondering why they hadn't expanded yet, before remembering that, considering the general attitude of this place's citizens, they probably wouldn't be interested in anything of the sort.