Where Ocean and Land Meet (East and LovinglyAmira)

[east]

It had taken weeks of preparation. Watching the grunts who were always with him trying to protect him from the dangerious outside world. Stashing away supplies so that when he did manage to get away from Lavaridge town. Making sure that he had his bags packed, and having his one and only pokemon on him at all times so that when the moment came he could run.

When that moment came Marius pounced on it. He had managed to convince a grunt he had been befriending to take him into town away from the overly hot, and stuffy sauna that Team Magma had called it's home. His father Maxie giving his blessing to the trip. He said he had just wanted to go to the hotsprings for a day, relax and be away from the constant studies that his father had made sure had consumed his life.

The moment he had seen that opening that he had only been around one other grunt. He had sprung. In truth Marius hadn't really wanted too harm the other, but striking him had been the only ticket to freedom. he had pushed the other young man down a short but very steep hill, and then ran before his guard could catch up.

It had been a day. Marius was sore, tired, orange hoodie was torn and ripped to peices as he had ran through brambles and difficult turrain to make sure that he would be harder to follow. Covering his tracks at every twist and turn, and running like a madman always sure to keep mount chimney behind him. He was sore, his pants were torn in places, and he had spent an entire night running.

He was pale, he was sweaty and his ginger hair was matted with dirt and knots he looked awful but he finally stopped running as he closed in on a stream. Taking a moment to rest, and change. Ditching the more familiar Team Magma clothing with stuff he had taken, and hiding his old uniform under some rocks. He was tired sweaty, but he was free.

He stood in just a blue muscle shirt, and some track pants. His belt and the pokeball on it were really the only thing on his person aside from the bag which he had removed patches from. Trying to remove anything that would give away his identity. As he rested by the creek, readying to spend the night relagated to the outdoors before finding his way back to a city however life threw a curve ball at him.

"Skra!"

The metalic screech was pretty much the only thing that gave away his attacker, as a giant metal bird crashed into where he was. Driving it's beak into the ground it regarded him as he rolled away, before it attacked again this time with wings like blades, that lashed across his arm.

 

[LovinglyAmira]

It had been a week since Lotus had left Lilycove City, she had since ditched her Team Aqua duds in exchange quite for something else easily. Some woman was willing to trade with her, probably because she was an aqua groupie or some sort of weird fashionista trying to turn gang wear into a trend. She hadn’t cared, she was happy to be rid of them. The only part she truly felt bad about was leaving her father, she in many ways was the only thing he had left. The day she was born, her mother had died of complications and for the next eighteen years her father’s hold on her had been overbearing. He would call him his blossom in the moonlight, he trained her to fight pokemon himself. Even though she could battle through a series of grunts, she still wasn’t allowed to leave his side. She didn’t even want to battle pokemon, she wanted to be a researcher like her mother had been. She wanted to help pokemon, not steal or use them. That is why on the eve of her 18th birthday, she left, in the middle of the night with only her Poochyena, some money she had gotten for her birthday and a few other processions to get her started.

Lotus had been walking for hours, Poochyeena had insisted on following behind her, which she happily obliged to have some company as she hadn’t spoken to really anyone in a few days. The last city she was in, she managed to buy a couple of pokeballs to get her started building a team, but hadn’t gotten the nerve to try and catch anything yet. She could see some water coming up and realized it was probably time to take a rest, maybe have some lunch.

There was already another sitting there, he looked like he was in rough shape, and pale. She didn’t think too much about it, just walking casually towards the water, focusing on the path in front of her. Than she heard it, a large Skarmory was zooming in on that guy. “Hey watch out!” She shouted, she watched as he rolled away. She started running his direction, “Just get out of the way.” She instructed.

“Poochyena, roar!” She commanded, Poochyena let out a loud roar and the Skarmory fled the area. “Good job.” She complimented the creature, petting the top of her head before turning her attention the man. She offered him a hand up, her lavender shaded eyes examining his features. He looked like he had been rolling through some prickly bushes after being locked up in a lab for a few years.

Lotus had spent most of her life in the sun, her skin a lovely shade of bronze that was a stark contrast against her white hair. In many ways she looked more like her mother than her father, which had been another reason for her father’s protective nature. “I’m Lo..” She paused, realizing she shouldn’t give out her real name. “Lola.” She finished.

 

[east]

It seemed like every time that Marius tried to reach for his own pokeball the Skarmary had something to say about it. Leading him on a bit of a wild run as he tried to stay one jump ahead of the angry metal bird. By the time he heard the other voice he was tired, his breath was ragged and he was starting to come to grips with his own fleeting mortality. So to say he was releaved when he saw a human emerge from the paths and the grass instead of say another angry monster he was more than happy to follow her advice. Dropping out of the way as she sent in the Poochyena. He dropped and rolled almost falling into a nearby stream.

As he recovered he watched the woman send the monster flying off, never to return. He honestly could not have pictured a more beautiful sight in that moment as watching the metal bird flee from battle. Yep he was going to be scared of birds for the rest of his life after that. He winced for a moment feeling the bruises along his body, the strain that all the running had caused for his legs, the lack of air in his lungs and the cuts along his arms from the first attack from it's bladed wings and breathed heavily taking a moment to appreciate the fact that he was alive. At this point it didn't even matter if his savior was a member of team magma trying to take him home. "Yeah... you... better run."

Seeing that his savoir was actually a young woman he paused for a moment still holding his arm trying to see that all his limbs would work as he felt himself down his spine and made sure that he was still completely intact. He survived, and he gave the woman who introduced herself as Lola a greatful smile. "Thanks if you hadn't shown up I'd be that things dinner."

He tried to stand up but his legs felt a little too weak after what he had just been through. "I am Mark."

He had decided on his alter ego and new name months ago, he knew exactly who he wanted to be. Even if he now realized he had no idea how to be that person. He was in way over his head. He offered the woman his hand. "Could you by any chance help me up. I don't think my legs want to work anymore."

 

[LovinglyAmira]

Lotus looked over at Mark concerned, “Let me check you over first.” She said kneeling down beside him. “I don’t know if this is any consolation, the Skarmony probably would have killed you directly, you know just left you here to die.” She laughed nervously, realizing her joke wasn’t that funny outside of team aqua. “Um, I’m going to touch you if that’s alright?” She said before grabbing his arm anyway, she ran her hand down it gently examining. She examined the other arm before she looked over at his head, “Well those all look superficial.”

She shifted herself a bit so she was just in front of him, “Tell me if anything hurts.” She started pressing down his left leg, feeling to see if any bones seemed out of place. She would occasionally pause to examine the scratches. She moved to his right leg, repeating down that leg. She stopped folding her hands in her lap, “Well, bad news, you are going to live. Here I’ll help you over to the water and we can get those scratches cleaned up.” She stood back up.

She took a moment to brush herself off before offering him her arm up and helping him across to the water.

“When you are traveling alone you really should be careful, some people can be very territorial, do you have a pokemon?” She asked, looking over at his belt and seeing one pokeball. “Next time, maybe consider using that…” She teased.

 

[east]

"Yeah that's fine." He gave permission rather freely for the woman to start touching him, and as she looked him over it was more than apparent that the worst of his injuries were the cuts along his arm, while superficial they were still bleeding a lot, Mark pulled a first aid kit out of his bag and did his best to let her bandage him up all things considered it could have been much worse, when she said that he would have just been left to die and then laughed about it he scooted away from her slightly. Though still allowed her to do as she pleased. He did however retract at her touch at first. "Oh Cold hands!"

"Um that's not really a nice thought to have all things considered." He huffed for a moment. He felt like he should have been offended, but in truth he had to pass it over as she was currently the one trying to help him, and she seemed to know what she was doing as she checked him over. She was cute, kind of weird but also kind of cute. He resigned himself to the idea of traveling with her for a while, but when she suggested he had used his own pokemon he swallowed.

"Um... Spire's not for battles." He would eventually figure that out and capture a new pokemon, but for now Spire had to be kept close. As he technically wasn't his. Oh Spire was Marius's oldest friend, and ally but he had been given to him by maxie, and he had a problem with control. The Pokemon was too strong, too sure of himself, and at times almost as bad as a wild pokemon. While he had no doubt that Spire liked him, he was just as likely to ignore his commands and then do his own thing.

"Your's seems rather well trained though. Maybe it's just safer if I stick with you."

 

[LovinglyAmira]

Lotus shook her head at the boy in obvious disapproval, how could he have a pokemon that wasn't able to battle? He was just wandering around with what, a house pet? She smiled when he mentioned that her pokemon was well trained, "Poochyena and I have been together a long time." She explained,

“I’ll think about it.” She responded when he suggested they travel together, it wasn’t that she was opposed to a travel companion but she didn’t want to be constantly responsible for her safety. No matter how cute he was, she hadn’t left her home to be stalled by battling pokemon all the time.

“Okay, only because I think you are adorable but first you need to find a pokemon you can battle. I don’t want to be a pokemon trainer, I want to be a pokemon researcher.” She explained, giving him a soft smile. She pushed some white hair from her face before offering her hand, “We have a deal?”

 

[east]

Finally standing up 'Mark' rubbed his shoulder as he checked himself over. He was still sore but at the same time he was alive. He blinked catching her words for a moment as he looked at her with an odd sense of curiosity when she said that she wanted to be a researcher. Why would anyone ever want to condemn themselves to being stuck in a lab forever. He wanted to warn her, send her away from a goal that would likely become a prison for her like it had with his father, or the other people who worked alongside team magma, but there was another even more pressing matter.

"You think I'm adorable?" His eyes widened slightly at the complement. He had never been told anything like that in his past. He had always been the bosses kid, which had made his teenage years extremely frustrating when it came to love and dating. No one would go near him because of just how over protective Maxie was, and yet here was this woman saying he was adorable, and that he could travel with her. t was almost enough to leave him star struck for a moment. Especially since the girl herself was rather pretty, though that could also be the trauma of having just been saved. It did wonders for a person after all. "You're pretty."

He shook his head for a moment. "You know it's kind of funny. Of course you would want to work in a lab. I just got out of a lab. I want to train pokemon, i want to get out into the world and see the wild, but I've spent more years studying than i can remember."

Maybe this was some case where the grass was always greener on the other side.

 

[LovinglyAmira]

The white haired women let out a little laugh when all he could focus on was that she called him adorable, she blushed a little stunned when he returned the compliment. She hadn't had much interaction with men, her father was pretty good and keeping boys away. He called her his sacred little blossom, too beautiful for the world and too precious to him to let her date. Or, leave. Or, do pretty much anything she wanted to do. "You don't have to suck up to me, I already said you can come." She teased, she didn't know how the man seemed surprised that he was adorable. Surely the girls wherever he came from had been keen to flirt with him before this.

She let out a little laugh, "You can study pokemon out in the wild without having to battle. I guess I don't want to battle pokemon because my family has always been so intense about it." She admitted, "Well, wild boy let's get out there than and catch you another pokemon. Pochyena and I can help you." She offered and Pochyena got momentarily more excited.

She laughed at her small pokemon, "Apparently she's either keen to battle or make new friends. I can't tell." She shook her head, starting down the path. "Maybe you can teach me some stuff too?" She paused to look at him, now that she thought of it , it really did look like he had spent his whole life in a lab. "You weren't grown in a lab were you?"

 

[east]

There was a slight flush to Marius's face as he tried to laugh off her joke, but there was some truth to him being grown in a lab. He scratched his head for a moment trying to pull something to make that entirely less awkward. "I mean is it that uncommon? I'd think lots of people were grown in a lab these days."

That said as he watched her his eyes strayed to the Poochyena and the way it reacted to the promise of another battle. While looking over Lola he nodded. She was right that it was possible to study pokemon in the wild, but the one at her side honestly didn't seem like it wanted such a boring life. At the way it perked up he was betting that the trainer and pokemon had different goals in mind, which never ended well.

Spire was disobedient not because of it's goals but because she was originally His fathers. Eventually if he proved that he was strong enough to take on or even defeat the legacy of his father that would mellow out, and Spire would be able to fight without his wild temper. However a pokemon and a trainer being on two different pages, that was more troubling, and could cause a much worse fracture down the line. Either way though she was offering her help, and though she seemed unable to read her pokemon he was sure that it was because the monster had a thrill for battle more so than her trainer.

"Lead the way Lola." Mark said giving her a small bow. "I mean I'm no master of all subjects or anything, but I've spent most my life learning. So i'm sure I could teach you, it's just down to what you are open to learning."