Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
Touma hadn't returned to collect his pokemon until it was early-afternoon, and as soon as he entered the room he was met with the unblinking stares of both his Gible and his Espurr. The other pokemon were dozing in various spots on the floor. Wooloo had managed to roll onto its back with its legs sticking straight up, bleating soft snores, and Amaura was curled up nicely on the bed, his legs kicking out every once in a while with La Mariposa cuddled into his side. When he closed the door they gradually stirred to varying degrees of wakefulness and, after reassuring each of them that he was fine despite how tired he looked, the group rolled out - quite literally for Wooloo, who was excited to eat - to get some much-needed breakfast.
Much of his energy seemed to come back as he ate and although he had to pull his phone out of Gible's mouth, it didn't seem like there was any permanent damage to it and it was still usable. He plugged in the number that Riley had given them before they'd parted ways and shot off a quick text to meet outside the city once he'd gotten changed and showered. Once breakfast was done he went back to do just that, fluffing his hair up to some measure of dryness and checking to see if he looked like he'd had a late night before he stopped in at a hybrid pokemart/convenience store for a few pokeballs and some "supplies". He wasn't sure how long the trip from here to Bass City would be, but if it was anything like the walk on Route 1 he had a feeling he'd be in for a long journey. At least he had company this time?
An hour or so later found him milling by the gates leading to the outside, La Mariposa perched on her shoulder and peering down into the phone screen as Touma finished up a call with his family. The screen was filled with a collective group of blond-haired, blue eyed children that were talking a mile a minute about games, movies, this or that pokemon. It was when he heard footsteps that Touma said his goodbyes, and at the whining of his siblings handed the bird on his shoulder the phone so he could - yeah, he's dabbing. If Riley were close enough to see she could probably catch a glimpse of most of the boys on-screen doing the same before the feed cuts off, and Touma retrieved the phone to slip into his pocket.
"Hey," He greeted, not an ounce of shame in him despite what he just did. "Oh - This is La Mariposa," He gestured to the Hawlucha who's more or less perched on his shoulder, and the bird gives a trill in greeting. "And this is Riley," Touma spoke directly to the pokemon by way of introduction. He turned his attention to the redhead and gestured to the rolling expanse of plains behind him.
After such a long night, and a longer morning than expected, they'd been late to check out, and Riley was a little annoyed at having to pay for the room for another night she wouldn't actually be spending in it. But oh well. It meant she could take her sweet time showering before hitting the small storage locker she kept in Cedar. She was here often enough that it was more convenient than carrying a bag all the time, though she'd grab a bag of travel supplies out of it for the trip to Bass. Only here while finding clothes to change did Riley really think about their gender for the day. Hmm... How did they wanna present?
Ultimately, she decided she was still feeling pretty feminine, but would go for more of a tomboyish look today to contrast the flashy cocktail dress she'd worn last night. A black graphic tee that said in pink yellow and blue font "Why yes I am attracted to pans" with some pictures of frying pans, a gray zip-up hoodie that was left open, and some worn blue jeans. Warm enough and nothing special.
Her favorite partner, her Eevee Hunter, was released to walk alongside her through the town and out to meet Touma. One egg, the Dreepy egg, was carried in her bag, and another, of a Snom, was tucked under her arm.
When she caught sight of him, she smiled, though his back was to her. Seemed he was video chatting with someone, and she squinted to get a bit better look. Just as she got up behind him- Oh. Oh lord he just. That happened. A hand covered her mouth as she did everything in her power not to laugh aloud. Someone please help he was entirely too cute. And Arceus the kids were doing it too.
When he hung up and turned around, she smiled sweetly. "Nice to meet you, Mariposa. Er. La Mariposa," she corrected, amused. What a cute name. And a Shiny, very nice! "This is Hunter," she said, nodding toward the Eevee at her heels, who responded with a bright 'vay!'
When he asked if she was ready, Riley nodded and began to follow him as they headed out into the route. As they walked, she asked, "So... Those kids your siblings?" She smirked. "Or your secret love children?"
"Hey Hunter," He greeted, dropping down to pet the little guy on the head. After straightening and giving Riley a once-over - it was a much different outfit than the one from last night, but it was still very much Riley - he began to lead the way to the rolling plains dotted here and there with an assortment of rocks and trees. He could even see a beach and, consequently, the coastline not that far away and wondered if there were an abundance of water-types around the area.
He was still vaguely tired, but the breakfast and shower had woken him up enough that he wasn't dragging his steps as they made their way through the route, although a rare yawn did escape him before Riley spoke. If he was embarrassed (which he was, a bit), he didn't let it show all that much on his face and even laughed a little.
"Those would be a lot of children, even for me," Touma hummed, but shook his head. "Yeah, those are all my siblings. I have eight of them, two boys and six girls."
Before he'd left he'd stared at the abundance of eggs he'd managed to collect in such a short amount of time and tried to decide which ones were best suited to carry along on the trip, since it was important to spend time with them. After a bit of eenie-meenie-miney-moe, he'd settled on an odd brown one with a small ring at its bottom, wrapped it in one of his spare sweaters and tucked it carefully into his knapsack with the rest of his supplies.
The rest of his team were comprised of the original five he'd travelled here with; Amaura, Wooloo, Espurr and Gible, all resting peacefully in their balls. He didn't think he'd need them with Riley here, but it was good to know they were available if something were to happen, even if he disliked battling.
"They sure look like me, huh?" He teased. "What would you do if they actually did end up being my children?"
Riley snickered and stuck her tongue out when he said it would be a lot 'even for him'. She had pretty well suspected that he got around about as much as she did, but the extra little confirmation amused her. Then he went on to say just how many siblings he had, and Riley nearly tripped. She caught herself, but gave him a bewildered look. "God damn, and I thought our house was busy with three kids. Your parents must be exhausted." Especially his poor mother. "Er, assuming you have two? If not forgive the assumption."
At his question, she snort-laughed. "Well first, I'd start questioning just how old you are." He didn't look too much older than her, so having kids as old as the ones she'd glimpsed looked didn't seem possible. But maybe she was bad at telling kids' ages so who knew. "Second, I might have to prepare for the inevitable battle royale with all your ex-lovers. Or current lovers for all I know," she teased. Not that she'd mind being 'the other woman' or wanted him all to herself. She just wanted to keep a nice little niche carved out to be able to stay FWBs with him. "How bout it, Touma? Have any partners or spouses I should know about, hmmm?" The 'accusation' was accompanied by basically the 'you like Krabby Patties' face.
"My mom and dad seem to handle things well enough. We do have a Mr. Mime that helps out, and a lot of them are old enough that they can do chores and start learning how to cook, if it came down to that. But only simple things like hot dogs and boxed macaroni, nothing too complex just yet." Oh Riley. If only you knew. Travelling tended to put one in contact with a looooot of people, and while his list wasn't extensive to him it was still... sort of a lot.
"I don't think there'd be any sort of battle. I do keep in contact with some of them," Which probably said a lot of things. Touma didn't elaborate further on this particular subject, though, and instead gave Riley a half-smile. "No spouses, no partners. I don't think I'm particularly good at keeping any, and if there were any interest... I'm not particularly good at noticing that, either." In other words, he a dumbass.
La Mariposa didn't seem too bothered by this and as a matter of fact was actually yawning, looking very much like she were ready for a nap herself. Touma debated letting her rest up in the pokeball until summoned, but she had already made herself a nice little roosting spot on his shoulder, curled half into his neck and he couldn't find it in him to bother her.
"Still sounds exhausting to me," she insisted. "Though I'm sure the Mr. Mime helps a lot. I've got three parents, but you could say all of them were clowns in their own ways so." She snickered, just imagining her mom lightly smacking her for that comment.
"Oh?" Riley was actually quite pleased to hear he had a history of keeping in touch, but didn't think anyone would fight over him. It meant she was both likely to be able to keep in touch as well and unlikely to encounter any drama. "Lucky you~"
She shrugged when he said he was bad at noticing things. "That's cool. I haven't had an official partner in a few years myself. To be honest I really prefer having friends with benefits. People you can just have fun with whenever and not have any expectations for, you know?" Oh? "Ah, twenty-three~" So they were close, cool.
She glanced over at him, looking him over casually... and squinted when she noticed his neck. Was that a bandaid? Shifting her egg under the other arm, she reached out and touched it briefly. "Nyeh?" What was the point of marking him up last night if he was gonna hide it? Rude.
"It can be," He agreed, thinking back to all those nights he'd had to spend babysitting. "The boys are at that age where they're all into video games, and they want everyone to play but since it's all girls most of them aren't into it. So they end up roping me in to play with them, most days. That's where this came from." Is he dabbing again? Heck yeah he is. This is actually the most he's ever talked about himself in a while, and it felt a little strange but not too uncomfortable, especially since he and Riley had already become familiar with each other.
At Riley's admission he fell into a thoughtful silence. Getting a partner was something that had rarely crossed his mind, and usually only after some kind of angry confession on the girl's end. Inevitably everything worked out, but getting there sometimes was a little bit of a task. "I do like friends," He eventually said, and that was that. Hawlucha was now dozing off on his neck, and right when he was reconsidering putting her up in her ball did he feel a touch against his skin and blinked. Oh, that's right, the bandaid.
"Oh. My pokemon - not her," He gestured to the sleeping bird in indication. "Saw it and thought they'd help." More specifically, they'd stared unsettlingly at him until Gible was able to place a bandage on his neck with its little paws. After trying to eat it, of course.
Merciful Arceus. It was one thing when she caught him dabbing to his siblings, but another entirely, as it turned out, for him to just turn and dab straight to her. She lost it, unable to withhold her laughter this time, despite trying. "Has anyone ever told you you're kind of ridiculous?" This wasn't said as an insult.
Friends were good, and Riley was content to leave it at that as well~
She wasn't sure if she believed his Pokemon had covered his hickey(s? would they have seen the ones on his collar too?), but the thought of it was super adorable. "Pffft. I see." Yeah, she had no reason not to trust him, she guessed. "That's precious." Looking down to the Eevee beside them, she asked, "How come you never look out for me, huh, missy?" Hunter rolled her eyes hard, and Riley snickered.
Shortly after, though, the egg in Riley's arms began to wiggle. "Hm? Hang on." A moment later, it was thrashing about. "Oh! Touma look!" She was beaming, and knelt down to set the egg on the ground and give the little one room to come out. The egg's outer shell began to crack, revealing the glowing form within, and the form inside shifted to take form. A few moments later, a very hefty Snom sat their, and Riley squealed at how cute he was! "I'll call you José," she decided just that quickly.
"A few times, actually," He confessed, not at all looking bothered by it. Considering a lot of the trainers nowadays were young enough to be into that sort of thing - when they weren't focusing on their journeys, of course - he didn't get as many odd looks as one would think, especially when he happened to be talking to his family in a restaurant or out on the street and they said their goodbyes. It probably was less ridiculous than his dancing, which was a mixture of video games dances from his brothers and less professional idol dancing from his sisters.
Touma was about to say comment further when Riley's attention was suddenly drawn to a movement in her bag. Having hatched Gible in a similar way he knew what was happening and so wasn't too surprised - except when he felt a similar movement coming from the egg in his own pack. A little thrown off guard because it hadn't taken nearly as long as Gible had, he gently took the egg from his pack as Hawlucha woke up due to the jostling and looked on with interest.
Just as Riley proclaimed the pokemon's new moniker, Touma was also looking on at the Sentret sitting quite contently amidst the remains of its eggs, looking around at the world with bright eyes. Another girl, by the looks of it, and as Touma offered her his hand she took the opportunity to scamper up his other arm to take up roost on his shoulder. He had to get used to the uneven weight distribution for a moment, but once that he did he was able to stand and looked over at Riley who was squealing over her new pokemon.
Good. As long as he knew he was an absolute dork, that was what was really important here.
Riley was still squealing over her new baby and just how big and squishy he looked when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye and did a double take. Wh-- "Oh gosh your egg hatched too?!" She let out a strange sound of disbelief. "They're twinsies then, how cute!" She giggled.
At the question of the name, she just flashed a cheesy grin. "I tend to just name my Pokemon the first name to pop into my head. Usually human names." She looked up to the colorful bird perched on Touma. "Maybe Ms. Mariposa there got me thinking about Hispanic names, who knows." She looked back to the Sentret, and found José had wriggled his way over to inspect Touma and his "twin" as well. Or well, was working on wriggling over there. He was not fast. And still had a whole Touma to climb if he really wanted a good look. But still.
"You gonna name her yet o--" Riley was cut off by a nearby bleat. "Huh?" Turning toward the sound, she saw a Skiddo wandering through the grass. "Oh! Ooh. I've been needing a ride Pokemon. You think I should try to catch it?" Hunter answered the question with a 'vay!' and a shift to a ready stance, but Riley had been asking Touma. Realizing as much mildly annoyed Hunter.
The Sentret and La Mariposa were each situation themselves comfily on his shoulders, and Touma had to basically work to balance sixty pounds unevenly so he wouldn't keel over. At the mention of La Mariposa's language affiliation he laughed a little. "Well, actually there's a video game..." But that was all he managed to get out before they were approached by a Skiddo coming through the grass. He was vaguely familiar with them in the sense that he'd seen people ride them passing by, but nothing much beyond that.
While La Mariposa looked on in curiosity when Riley approached the creature, it was Sentret that began tugging at his hair to get him to look in a different direction, and when he did he saw a Stunky coming from the other side. It didn't look particularly aggressive and, actually, seemed quite docile, enough that when Touma crouched down and gently gestured to it with a wiggle of his fingers and a soft "hey there" the pokemon looked at him cautiously, but approached nevertheless.
"I think you should," He agreed, keeping his attention evenly divided between Riley and the Stunky currently rubbing its head over his fingers. "It couldn't hurt, right?"
A video game? Pfff, of course there was. Touma grew dorkier by the minute, it seemed. Riley could only imagine what impression she'd have of him by the time they made it to Bass.
As she debated engaging the Skiddo, who seemed content wandering and grazing nearby for now and paid the humans no mind, a smaller Pokemon wandered up to Touma. "Hm?" Riley looked at it, and cracked a nervous smile. "You make a new friend?" She chuckled. It was cute, but.. "Do be careful, though. A friend and I got sprayed by one once. Let me tell you: tomato baths are a lie. There's nothing you can do but wreak for a week." This Stunky seemed pretty chill, though.
Looking back to the Skiddo, she decided, "But all right, no harm in trying, yeah. So..." She headed toward the Skiddo, who finally looked up and at her as she drew closer. "Excuse me, Mi...ster?" She squinted and decided that was right. "Mister Skiddo! Would you be willing to spar with my partner, here?" She gestured to Hunter, who puffed up readily.
The Skiddo tilted his head, but then bleated and squared up. Awesome! "Hunter, Sunny Day!" The flower-crowned Eevee let out a 'vay!' and jumped up, conjuring a floating ball of fire above them that shone down like bright sunlight. Skiddo got the first actual hit, then, slamming into Hunter with a Take Down. Of course, that did rough himself up a bit as well.
"Sizzly Slide," Riley ordered, faintly wondering if Touma would notice or be impressed by the rare moves of her Eevee. Hunter ran toward Skiddo, flames spawning from her feet, and skidded sideways into him with a wall of flame, powered up by the Sunny Day. The super-effective attack did massive damage.
The Skiddo retaliated with a Bulldoze, which roughed Hunter up a good deal, but she came back with another Sizzly Slide, making the Skiddo stagger about as he tried to keep his footing. That should be good! "All right, let's try!" Riley produced an empty PokeBall, and tossed at the Skiddo.
"Oh yeah?" At Riley's advice he looked back to the Stunky and its expression, but because of the way its face was physically he couldn't tell if it was legitimately angry or just... had a case of RBF. That wasn't going to stop him from giving it a good stroke down its back, which the pokemon seemed to appreciate since it was lifting its rump into every rub of his fingers much like how a Skitty would do. La Mariposa and the newly hatched Sentret looked on interestedly as he interacted with the Stunky, but their attention was soon drawn to the battle going on a few feet away from them.
Never once stopping the petting of the Stunky in front of him, Touma also turned his gaze to fight just in time to see Riley order a "Sizzly Slide". Impressed was a pretty good way of putting it, since it was enough to make him stop petting the skunk pokemon and get a resounding growl in response to get him to start up again, but his eyes were now solely focused on the battle in front of him. When Riley had said she was a coordinator he didn't think pokemon battles were something she was also skilled at, and seeing firsthand how well Riley and her pokemon worked together actually charmed him all the more.
He would have moved to tell her as much, but she seemed entirely focused on getting the Skiddo captured and so he remained silent. He watched with baited breath as the pokeball shook once, twice -- and then the Skiddo burst free and stamped the pokeball in the process. Ouch. From where he was seated on the ground, he called out, "You almost got it though! Maybe try talking to it more?"
Touma didn't seem to be taking much heed of her warning, but oh well. The Stunky seemed chill enough for now, and if it did wind up spraying him, well... Riley could always manage til they got to Bass and then politely excuse herself for a week, ha.
The Skiddo almost acted like it was going to be caught, but then the little bastard not only broke out, but broke her ball. "Aw c'mon," she pouted. Oh well. She took a deep breath, mustering her determination. "All right, try a Sparkly Swirl." The Sizzly Slides were very effective, but using the same move over and over was a surefire way to become too predictable to the opponent.
Hunter gave another little battle cry as she gathered glittering pink light, then unleashed it in a small tornado around the Skiddo. To Riley's dismay, the next attack Skiddo used was Synthesis, which took advantage of the Sunny Day to do extra healing. She gritted her teeth.
"Quick Attack in and Double Kick," she ordered, and Hunter quickly launched the attacks in succession while the Skiddo was finishing healing up. If it had Synthesis, though, this could be a long fight. So Riley took Touma's advice. "You see how strong Hunter is?" she asked, pulling out another ball. "Come with us and we'll help you get stronger, too. We'll evolve you into a Gogoat in no time, too!" Praying that would convince him, she threw the ball again.
Sparkly Swirl? Was that another coordinating move he hadn't heard of? Perhaps he should start attending contest showings more often, if that was the case. While he was pretty sure he wasn't creative enough to be a coordinator himself, watching Riley move and command attacks got his interest well enough.
The second ball flew out and Touma watched it intently as it shook but ultimately dinged in successful capture, and he couldn't help the smile that broke out across his face in response to Riley taking his advice. Whether or not that was a contributing factor or the fact that Riley had probably worn it down a bit more didn't matter, and he was soon patting the little Stunky on its rump and sending it on its way. It gave him an annoyed stare and hovered there for a moment, then turned casually, lazily, and took its time striding away. It was almost as though the pokemon were saying "I'm leaving, but not because you told me to, I just felt like it." The blond watched the pokemon walk away and turned his attention to Riley and her triumphant victory.
"It looks like you won it over," He commended, beaming at her in congratulations. "Good job. How's Hunter?"
As the ball dinged in confirmation, Riley grinned wide. "Fuck yeah!" She headed over to pick it up as Touma congratulated her. "Ah, she's good. Right Hunt?" The Eevee puffed up proudly, a little roughed up but nothing that a few minutes to catch her breath wouldn't fix.
As Riley turned back to look at Touma, she noticed the Stunky heading off. "Hm? Aww, you not gonna catch it?" She put on a fake pout and feigned a sniffle. "Here I thought you two had something special!" She sniffed twice more before breaking out into a giggle. Honestly, after The Incident with Soltero, Riley wasn't too terribly disappointed to not have another Stunky around all the time. But she did have to admit Touma was awfully cute for just petting the thing like that.
About this time, José finally made it to Touma-- wait had he been slowly wriggling all this time? WOW he was slow-- and started trying to climb up his leg to inspect the Sentret and get his own dose of pets.
"Well... I actually already have a lot of pokemon as it is," Touma confessed a little sheepishly. "As much as I wouldn't mind taking it in, too, I'm not sure how well I'd be able to provide for it. Better that it winds up with another trainer that can show it the proper love and care it deserves." Which... actually described his outlook on most if not all of his potential relationships, if he had to think about it.
He noted the Snom had finally managed to make its way over, and he bent down to scoop it up from his leg so he could hold it up to the Sentret perched on his other shoulder. It reached out a tentative hand and gave the Snom a little pat on the head, and as the two interacted with each other Touma turned his attention to Riley.
"I've never seen anything like what you were doing before. Were those all coordinator moves? That was incredible!"
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