Tonight We Break Away {Mod//Open}

[Rarity]

Two Zoroark and a single trainer stepped through the burnt trees towards the - hopefully - inactive volcano. The trio didn't seem to be speaking as they walked, but if one could hear the thoughts flying about they would realize that this was far from the truth.

"I'm telling you, I don't see any Pokemon around.." This growly thoughtvoice seemed to be coming from one of the Zoroark, and an identical voice came from the other, who replied "There must be some somewhere!"

The trainer, Rex, seemed to know which Zoroark was which. "Claire, Axel is right.. There has to be Pokemon here. It's a hot place, you can bet your tail there's fire-types around."

Claire, the Zoroark to the left, shook his butt around and gave the trainer a look of contempt. "I don't HAVE a tail right now." After the point was made, the Zoroark shrunk into the pre-evolved form of the Pokemon, a Zorua - curiously, a female one. "NOW I have a tail to bet." she said, sticking out her tongue. Axel and Rex rolled their eyes at the little Zorua, who seemed to be pleased now, and they continued towards the volcano.

[/blockquote]

[Prince Pony Age]

Some hundred yards ahead on the only 'path' there seemed to be, there was...another person. She wasn't doing much, and as one approached, it became evident that she was rather ill.

Three Pokemon were around her--a Sneasel, who was less apparent in her illness but probably more affected; a Shuppet, who hovered close to her trainer and ate up these somewhat rare--for this trainer, at least--negative emotions; and a soft blue-accented Gardevoir, helping her trainer to remain standing.

"I--I might be good now, Aphrodite. I think I can..." The woman took her hand away from the white humanoid, and stood on her own. She was about to take a step, but realized she was just about to head DEEPER into this nigh-literal hellhole. She turned around and was about to walk as far as she could out of this, then hesitated again as she saw a man who had not been there before. "...I must look like a fool..." she muttered to herself, wiping some sweat off her forehead. She sighed, and beckoned to her Pokemon. "I--yeah, I think I can make it out of here. Sorry to put you all through this, but...if I ever DO become a Ranger, I--and you, too--will need to be able to withstand any environment... But--we're done for today. This is--a bit too much to start off with, I suppose..." With that, she began walking towards the man, hoping she could get by without a battle, or even any more than a passing 'hullo.'

[Rarity]

"..I smell something over there." Axel's nose turned towards the scent of three other beings. A human.. female? Something of the Ralts line and.. some other thing he couldn't identify. He projected as much to Rex, who turned to look in that direction.

"Hey.. I think that's a trainer." Rex shaded his eyes with one hand and squinted, then tilted his head slightly for good measure. "They're coming this way." With that he began moving towards them as well, and his Pokemon followed until the two trios were close together.

"Hi.. I'm- oh!" Rex began to greet the other trainer with projected thoughts, then realized what he was doing and cleared his throat. "Hi.. I'm Rex." The Zorua and Zoroark couldn't speak directly to the other trainer, so they conveyed their greetings through Rex. "This is Claire and Axel.. They said hello."

[/blockquote]

[Prince Pony Age]

At least he was polite, and didn't seem to want to battle. "Hello yourself. I...I'm Yukiko." Normally Yukiko would have returned the politeness by bowing or curtsying a bit with the greeting, but she honestly thought she'd lose her balance if she did that now.

As the other trainer introduced his Pokemon, Yukiko blinked. Hm, that was...unusually pleasant. Yukiko smiled weakly at this--she was doing her level best to even stand up in this heat, and that taxed nearly her whole system. "This here is Aphrodite.." she waved a hand languidly in the direction of the Gardevoir, who smiled and curtsied as her name was said. For just a moment, Yukiko envied her Pokemon's ability to remain calm in this heat; then, she turned to her other side, where the Sneasel was standing haughtily despite not only discomfort but downright pain from the hot environment, "And this is Persephone. And the Shuppet who's somewhere behind my head is Circe." She sighed, and said, "I'm sure they all say hello too." While Aphrodite clearly did indeed say 'Hello,' the Shuppet was just floating about, nomming on the strange tasting emotions Yukiko gave off, especially enjoying this new flavor that was the consequence of talking to someone Yukiko was not comfortable with; and Persephone was clearly wary of the man and his own Dark-type Pokemon.

A bit of wind blew during Yukiko's last sentence, and rather than cooling her off, it just blew hotter air at her and made her nearly fall over. She barely caught herself, though Aphrodite caught her shoulders also, just in case. "I, er--think I should probably be going. I'm--I'm late. For, ah, a... I need to be somewhere," Yukiko lied--probably unconvincingly, considering her halting speech and her obvious unwellness.

[Rarity]

Rex smiled back at the other trainer and subtly looked her over. Not bad, not bad at all, but she didn't seem terribly pleased with her surroundings. She looked absolutely uncomfortable, to be quite honest, and he wondered what she was doing in a place she didn't like..

As soon as Aphrodite was introduced, Axel's eyes narrowed and he grinned mischievously, moving forward to take the Gardevoir's hand.

"A pleasure, I'm sure~" he purred, kissing the hand he had taken and gazing up at her with sparkling eyes. Claire rolled her eyes and said nothing to or about anyone, preferring to look off into the distance.

"Hm..? We could accompany you if you like.." He hesitated before adding, "No offense, but you don't look so good.. Is it the heat?"

[/blockquote]

[Prince Pony Age]

Aphrodite was surprised by the ...warm welcome, if that's what you'd call it. For a few moments, she was speechless, until she finally managed to spit something out. <'Ah--er, uh. Hi.'> She sweatdropped and wasn't certain what else to say... She was rather thankful that Yukiko had stumbled at that moment, giving her an excuse to not be as awkward with this new Pokemon.

Yukiko, after regaining her footing a few moments later, responded to the offer, "I'm--I'm quite well. There's nothing wrong, not 'tall. I..." She notieced that the headache she'd started to get a while ago was definitely worse, and that she was rapidly becoming nauseous. "I don't know who I'm trying to fool... I--I'll be fine with my Pokemon, I think, but--thank you for offering. To--go with me, and all." Indeed, it was more than most people would do. ...In fact, the only other man she'd met who'd use their time to help someone they had JUST met was Alaric. Granted, Alaric would only do so for women, but that was beside the point. She briefly wondered how he was doing, but was interrupted by her stomach pain and the pressing need to at least be not right next to the lava.

[Rarity]

Rex's grin became a more charming one as he spoke again. "What if I just want the company of a pretty lady and her Pokemon? Not to mention that I'm not certain where to go next anyways.." He trailed off and glanced over to Axel, who had dipped his head respectfully and drawn away from the Gardevoir.

Indeed, Rex had no clue where he wished to go or what he was going to do next. He wasn't even sure why he had come to the Fire Pits in the first place, to be quite honest with himself. They were just kind of.. wandering, after all, no real agenda or quest to follow.

[/blockquote]

[Prince Pony Age]

Despite her illness, Yukiko had a moment of...she wasn't even certain what. "You...don't happen to know anyone named Alaric, do you?" When Rex responded that he didn't, Yukiko shook her head and shrugged a bit. "Heh. Uhm, anyhow. I--if you'd like to come along...I suppose that's alright as well." These were very different circumstances than how she'd come along Alaric some months ago, but again she felt that twinge of...something or other...that came from being called a 'lady,' not because she was rich--or used to be, anyway... No, instead she was called a pretty lady because--er, well, just because, she supposed.

"In fact...I suppose that would be nice. ...Thank you." She smiled weakly at Rex, then started (somewhat slowly) along the path that seemed to lead out of here. She...she wouldn't be all better, but she though she could stop focusing on not vomiting as son as she was away from the immediate source of heat. Just...thirty or so meters away from the actual lava pits should be enough.

Persephone noticed her idol's nice tone with the man. As Yukiko started off, Persephone hissed a bit at Rex, weakly shaking a claw at him; but as she was quite a bit worse off than her trainer, that was the extent of what she could do. She turned back to follow her Trainer.

Aphrodite glanced nervously at the other Trainer and his Pokemon, then hurriedly floated up to Yukiko's side, and grabbed hold of her hand tightly. She did not do well with other Pokemon--and was naturally scared of Dark types, aside from Persephone. ...And Ghosts, aside from Circe. ...Well, truth be told, despite her friendliness with the Sneasel, she was definitely still afraid of her, considering the few times they'd double-battled together...

Aphrodite mentally sighed. Nigh everything scared her in some degree, didn't it?

[Rarity]

Though he had come here to look for Pokemon, Rex didn't seem terribly disappointed to be leaving with nothing but a new friend. He looked back across the area as the two converged groups made their way out; it was actually quite pretty to behold, the red-tinted ground and the smoking pits. He thought he saw movement way back behind some of the pillars of smoke, but he wouldn't leave Yukiko right now when he had just convinced her to take him along.. He looked to Axel, who was grinning after Aphrodite from the back of the group, and shook his head at his Pokemon's ridiculous tendencies before also following.

"Where shall we go?" he asked Yukiko as he made his way towards her through all of the Pokemon.

[/blockquote]

[Prince Pony Age]

"For the moment, I just...need to get to the edge where it's less--less blisteringly hot." She was breathing somewhat raggedly, almost...panting, but not quite. "Just...a bit cooler than here...maybe I'll be able to think properly..." It was true, Yukiko's normally active mind could process little but 'IT'S HOT AND OMG I'M SIIICK' DD; for the moment.

Aphrodite swore she could literally feel Axel's eyes on her back. She thought she was purely imagining things, but when she glanced over her shoulder nervously--well, she only saw the canine's grinning face for a moment before she snapped her head back to its frontward position, and huddled against Yukiko a bit. 'Please don't let him hurt me...' she thought, unintentionally communicating the thought to Yukiko as well.

Yukiko turned her head to the left and saw Aphrodite's rather scared face. "There, there," she said, unsure of which 'he' Aphrodite was talking about--despite the obviousness of the answer. To try to calm her, Yukiko planted a quick kiss on the Gardevoir's cheek, not thinking about the fact that this could well put her new company off very much. She was normally better at being subtle about displays of affection in public, but the heat was clouding her head...

[Rarity]

Rex's thoughts wandered aimlessly as he trod through the sand, mostly drifting towards Yukiko. He nearly blushed at a particularly NSFW thought, then chuckled softly to cover.

Axel stopped staring at the Gardevoir when he realized just how uncomfortable he was making her feel, but his eyes happened to sweep past when the lady trainer kissed her Pokemon on the cheek. He wondered if this trainer was the same as his, where she was attracted to Pokemon as well as humans, but didn't delve too far into it.

Rex saw this as well and decided to bring it up later, as long as they stuck together. If they were going to end up parting ways, he'd likely ask casually and cause some very awkward conversation and avoidance if he was wrong and this trainer was nothing like him..

[/blockquote]

[Prince Pony Age]

[[ohey I didn't realize you'd replied, lolol]]

After a few minutes, they were fairly close to the border of the pits, where it was still warm, but not that hot--that is to say, Yukiko was still very uncomfortable, but not dying any more. She found a rock to sit down on, and remembered something that could have helped her a while ago, since she totally had this NeverMeltIce the whole time and didn't magically go to the shop to obtain one while in the middle of this or anything.

That would be absurd.

From her pack, she took out a NeverMeltIce. Come to think, Persephone had one too, tucked under her feather--it's probably why she didn't outright faint from the heat, honestly.

But yes. She withdrew the item normally reserved for Pokemon, and held it against her neck. It was of course quite cold, and with sitting down and slightly lessened surrounding temperature, Yukiko didn't even feel sick anymore.

Keeping the hold-item to her neck, Yukiko looked up again at Rex. "Sorry to drag you out of your training, or whatever it was that brought you here. I, well--heh... to be honest, this is...rather ironic. I hope to be a Ranger, and was here to train myself to stand the heat--and I ended up being saved myself. So, uh... Thank you. ...And please don't speak of this to anyone--not that I'm well-known or the like, but..." And Yukiko realized she was rambling. She did that too often, damn it all.