Explorermaratin' [Shey!]

[victoria]

It was an absolutely beautiful day today. There was not a cloud in the sky, or anywhere else for that matter. Then again, there might have been a Swablu or two kicking about. Victoria was unsure on the matter, however, as she was deep in the water, swimming about and happily basking in the sun. Even down in the water, the sun leant its warmth to all the creatures of the ocean.

She had already finished the mission sent out to her by her squad leader, and was told now was a rather good time for her to take a nice break. She loved it when it was break time, as it got everyone out right when they needed it the most, and even now, when things were far from happy…

The only Pokemon she could not let outside was Koi, seeing as he had quite an issue with it to begin with. Being outside meant he would get lost, and he did not want to get lost at all. Victoria would just have to live without him.

At least Tama and Showers were getting their exercise, and they were enjoying it quite a bit as well. They had gone off, farther from where she was at the moment. Not that she minded at all, but sometimes she wished her Pokemon would not float off like they usually did.

Well, they would both come home extremely tired at least. They were probably having a little more fun talking with fish they have never seen before anyways. It was always something she never understood with them; why bother perfectly quiet and normal Pokemon when they did not have to themselves? They did have each other to play with, though they never seemed to do so. It was like they were young siblings, bickering with each other in order to get anything done, and even then, they did not get all that much done to begin with. This is why Victoria never took part in a tag team battle. It was just too much of a headache for her listening to them argue.

Whatever the case, it did seem that they were out of her hair for now, leaving her to her own devices, which she appreciated. At least now she could go exploring without one of them or the other whining about how long it was going to take. They could quite easily wander and she could explore.

Now why would that be two totally separate things when, in the long run, it was just the same thing…

Victoria did not dwell on that thought, as she floated towards the surface. There was a rather shiny object up there, one she could not see from her angel down under the water. She would have to get closer, and hopefully not get caught by anyone.

Lumineon, from what she understood, were coveted water type Pokemon prizes, much like a Milotic or Mantine, and she did not want to be caught for someone else’s battles. That was why she had her own…

Fortunately, it did not look like the shiny thing she had seen was a hook, of any sort. Nor was it a lure. It was just pretty, shiny, and round shaped.

It looked a little bit like a coin…

She blubbed out a bubble or two in enjoyment, happily staring at the object, unaware of anyone around her…

[Shey Maknama]

OOC: *flails at the epic fail shortness* Sorry!

Ahhhhh…Finally a day off! the Ranger lay back on the sand, content to just dose away the afternoon underneath the bright sun. The Ranger, one Shey Maknama, had been quite busy for the last few weeks. First with a recent surge in Ranger missions, then with the reemergence of her long lost brother Devin…yeah, it had been a busy few weeks. But a good kind of busy. Just catching up with her brother on the last few years, getting to know each other again…Yeah, well worth it. But now Shey finally had a free afternoon. Nothing to worry about. Devin had work; there was no more missions to be completed, nada. Yep, just peace and-SPLASH!

A now dripping wet Shey sat up, glaring at the culprit. Kat the Grovyle shrugged and grinned before running back into the water, the pail she had just dumped on her trainer flying behind her. Shey just shook her head, too relaxed to bother chasing her Pokemon. It was a good thing that Kat was having fun in the water. Her other two Pokemon were totally missing out. Semi was as far away from the water as possible while still staying on the nice warm sand, trying to build a sandcastle without crushing it under his somewhat clumsy hooves/paws/feet thingys. Rai had tried the water, but a warning spark had erupted between his paw and the water when his paw was still 4 inches away, putting an end to any swimming hopes he had. Salt water did conduct better than fresh water after all.

Shey laid back down on the sand. The water had actually felt pretty good. The sun was bright and hot, the ocean breeze brisk and smelled great, all was perfect in Shey land.

“EEEEEEEEKKK!!!!”

Shey sprang to her feet, already three steps into the water before the fact that Kat’s scream was more of an ‘OMGITSSOCOOL’ instead of a ‘WTFITSGOINGTOHURTME.’ Shey slowed to a stop, knee-deep in water. “What is it Kat?” She noticed a blueish shape in the water, somewhat human shaped, but with large beautiful fins.

Kat stuck her head under the water to get a better look. She resurfaced, spraying water high into the sky. “It’s pretty!” The Grovyle drove back under the water, peering closely at the weird Pokemon/human shape.

Shey sighed and waited to see what Kat had found this time. She idly wondered whether it would be deadly this time. A harmless discovery would be a nice change.

[victoria]

The Lumineon morph stared at the aforementioned coin shaped object, entranced by the golden color and the beautiful shine. There was nothing that could keep her from it…

She floated closer and closer, her Lumineon shape changing back from its pure Lumineon self into her morph self. What was the point of hiding if everyone knew Pravus existed anyways? The closer she would get to the surface of the water, the more wary she was of people trying to capture her in Pokemon form. There was no point of confusing people at all. That would be bad, all that confusion, and that poor trainer, out of a Pokeball.

Then again, if most of the wild Pokemon were taken out of the Remoor region to begin with, the sight of a ‘wild’ Lumineon was rare in itself and should be regarded with utmost suspicion, not youthful excitement…

Pravus got everyone’s panties in a bunch sometimes. Not that Victoria cared really; if she wanted, she could make a request with the Admin to go see if she could find a rare wild Pokemon, or request for another, and if he said no, she could request one from her parents.

She did not expect either of them to produce a Feebas out of the blue anyways. That Maiya girl was rather lucky to own one. It did look like she attempted to take good care of it. Koi was probably rather jealous, seeing as he was neglected most of the time, left in the tank to rot… either that or evolve, whichever came first.

If Koi remembered things like that. That was probably why Victoria was so intent on getting him to evolve, so that he could travel along with her more often. That and a Gyarados would match her mood so well, or so she was told. Apparently there was a much nastier side that she had yet to examine.

If she did not know it existed, what was there to examine?

The muffled sound of a shriek shocked the girl out of her thoughts, and she wrenched her eyes away from the shiny coin to find herself staring right at a lizard’s head, deep in the water. It was only there for a few moments, before it disappeared to the surface world, and dove down once more, its owner seemingly staring at her with wide-eyed curiosity. Was that curiosity? Victoria could not have been more confused by this Pokemon. She had heard such majestic beasts were much more dignified. Whatever it was she was staring had just had to be a dragon type, right? It had a rather dragon-like head, and, after all, she could not tell the difference if it was not a water type.

She blinked at it for quite a few moments. Soon it would need air again, unless it was partially a water type, in which case they could stare at each other for quite some time.

Her fish side almost got the best of her, wanting her to dart off and hide in the seaweed below until the Pokemon went away. However, her curiosity got the best of her. It was time to meet new things and people, and she was not going to back down this time.

So, when she got close enough to the beast, she poked it on the nose.

“Hello there,” she said cheerily.

[Shey Maknama]

Duuuuuuuuuuuude this was so freakin’ awesome! Kat mentally squealed. Sooo pretty and fishy and blue! Kat could only watch with awe as the fishy swam closer. It looked kinda human, but also kinda fishy. All those pretty fins…and the little pink dot on the tail! So pretty! Waving in the water so prettily, just like the leaf on Kat’s head.

The Grovyle stayed still as the fishy swam even closer. She noticed that the fishy was staring at her. Oh boy! A staring contest! I can win this! Kat thought, floating in place. The contest was on. Kat stared and stared, not blinking. The fishy was pretty good at the staring. Didn’t even seem to be trying.

Ha! It blinked! Kat won! She did a little victory dance in the water, spinning around and around, somehow ending up upside down. The fishy was even pretty from this angle! And it was coming closer! Kat stared, still upside down, ignoring the increasing burn in her oxygen starved lungs.

Poke. The fishy poked her nose! The remaining air whooshed out of Kat’s lungs in a burst of bubbles. The Grovyle flailed, surprised and completely out of breath. But she was still upside down! Which way was up! Ah! This wasn’t fun anymore!

Just as everything was going black, Kat felt something grab her foot and yank. The Grovyle popped to the surface, gasping and coughing and flailing.

“Kat! Watch those arms! You nearly poke my eye out!” Shey scolded.

Kat spun around. Her trainer was treading water nearby, supporting Kat by an elbow. “Sorry Shey” Kat sputtered, still coughing up water.

Shey smiled at her Pokemon “It’s ok, just remember that you’re not a water type. You don’t have gills so you need to come up for air once in a while.”

Kat nodded. “I’ll remember that-Hey guess what! I met a new friend and I won!” Complete turn around. Kat had such a small attention span.

“You won?” Shey laughed. “Won what? And who’s this friend you’re talking about, the fishy?”

Kat nodded rapidly. She threw her hands out wide, nearly whacking Shey again “It was a pretty fishy like this big but then it changed and it’s a pretty blue human fishy THIS big!” Kat settled back down. “And I won a staring contest!”

Wait, a blue human fishy? That didn’t make any sense. Unless…Shey remembered back to Ranger orientation, the section about Pravus. “A Pokemorph?” she breathed.

“What’s that?” Kat asked.

Shey ignored her and dove underwater herself. There it was. Human shaped, with fins, and were those…gills? On the side of her neck? Pokemorph’s were supposed to be unnatural creations of Pravus’ insane scientists. This one looked…beautiful. Shey hesitated, then motioned towards the surface. Hopefully the Pokemorph would understand her gesture.

Shey returned to the surface, gulping in oxygen and staying close to Kat as she waited. She kept an eye on the bluish shape beneath the water that was the Pokemorph. If the morph decided to attack…Shey was really taking a risk here. But how could something so pretty be evil?

[victoria]

Victoria blinked quite a few times, actually. It was no secret that she too thought that this creature was strange, and different. With none of her own Pokemon around, she would have quite a hard time defending herself. Not that it seemed, at all, that she needed to. This dragon-like creature was rather intriguing to her. It was different in so many different ways, she could not even begin to describe how.

As the dragon creature began to flail about, Victoria felt a sense of panic. She did not want another one of life’s many creatures to fall victim to an overdose of water! And all because she was excited to see something different! Victoria would feel rather guilty if she was at fault for this creature’s demise!

Luckily for her, it seemed the dragon was being lifted out of the water. A few moments later, however, she saw another form dive into the water and motion for her to come upwards. What was this? Who was that with the dragon Pokemon? That was rather strange to have the dragon Pokemon type attached to a trainer. Usually they were… well, elsewhere. She thought they were all legendary Pokemon.

Either she was mistaken or something was up.

She was a tiny bit wary of returning to the surface, but thought about it a moment. If they wanted to get to her, whoever they were, they would have snatched her right out of the water and taken her away from her underwater wonderland. They had not done so though, so they could not have been all that bad, could they have?

She contemplated this for a few more moments before she began to surface, her eyes screaming caution, but still a strange curiosity that could only be explained as ‘fish-like.’

Eventually, she surfaced slowly so that only her head was seen. She would have to stay in the water most of the time, seeing as it hurt if she came into contact with the water and did not have her apparatus on.

She also did not expect this mission to be out of the water at all. If she saw this coming, she might have brought it.

Her eyes were not on the girl, but instead on the Pokemon in all of its glory. What a beautiful beast! Full of splendor and beauty! She had no idea that she looked different to these people. Pravus was full of people who knew what Pokemorphs were, and, if she ever encountered someone who did not know, then that was their problem, not her’s.

She was, however, rather silent. She wanted them to be the first to speak with her, and not the other way around. It was best not to offend anyone.

Though, with those utterly large eyes, it was hard for her to not offend someone.

[Shey Maknama]

Kat had to stare at the shape that surfaced. It was like…a girl…but also like a fish…but reminded her of a Pokemon…all at the same time…it was kind of confusing…agh. Kat’s head hurt from trying to figure it all out.

“A…Pokemorph?” Kat asked, swimming closer “What’s that?”

Shey thought back, trying to remember all of the details. Devin was extremely reluctant to divulge anything about Pravus, but Shey had poked and prodded until Devin had divulged quite a bit about Pokemorphs. Lots of mumbo jumbo scientific stuff about gene splicing and fluid genomes and stuff like that.

“Let’s see..” Shey began, circling the girl Pokemorph, inspecting her closely “Pokemorphs are supposed to be a sort of human-Pokemon hybrid type thing. Built by Pravus after a lot of mistakes and all that-“

Kat broke in “Yaddy yaddy yadda lotsa scientist stuff I know I know. So can it talk?” Kat swam closer and went to poke Victoria’s fluttering fin.

Shey lunged forward and grabbed the Grovyle’s arm. “Don’t touch it!” she admonished “Didn’t you hear what I said? Pokemorphs were created by Pravus! Pravus are evil and destroy everything. She’s probably thinking on how to eat us right now!” Gah! Shey was getting herself all worked up!

Kat just shook off Shey’s restraining hand “That’s silly. She’s too pretty to be evil. Besides I would beat her butt if she tried to eat me. Or if she tried to eat you of course.”

Shey laughed, but it died quickly. She was still worried…But then again, Kat was right about one thing. The other girl was way to pretty to be evil.

Hmm…and there was that one other question…

Shey peered closely at Victoria, joining Kat in the scrutiny. “Can you talk?” Shey asked curiously.

[victoria]

Now that poor Grovyle being told by her trainer that Pravus was evil! Who had the audacity to say that kind of thing to the face of one of Pravus's finest!

Okay, she was giving herself a little more credit than what was worth, but she was appreciated! President Winston was going around, telling choice (every) member how appreciated they were and how he never wanted to see them leave Pravus without knowing that fact.

Some of them probably did not appreciate such knowledge as she did, but she took it to heart... He was such a nice man. A little bit dense, but nice.

So this girl bashing Pravus up and down the way she was... well, it was not tolerable, and she was going to say so!

"I most certainly can talk!" Victoria said grumpily, "Not only that, but I can understand you perfectly fine!"

She was incredibly angered by this girl, and she found that her anger was... well, it was easy to show when she was just meeting someone...

"I will have you know that Pokemorphs are not some... subhuman race like other people think... I do not know who you take me for, but I, Victoria Kennsington, am a proud Lumineon Pokemorph, and you have no place treating any Pokemorph like a subhuman being!"

By now her light complexion was a light purple with her anger and frustration, but she calmed down momentarily afterwards. All that anger took so much energy out of her...

"How would you like it if I went around treating you like that?" she asked, though her voice was much quieter, not in a chiding tone as she had meant it to be.

She smiled at the beautiful dragon creature, the one who knew absolutely no better.

"I mean no harm," she said, "If you are merely curious, I do not mind... but please be careful in touching... they are fragile... What is your name?"

She too was curious of the creature in front of her; she had never seen one, and she wanted to know everything she could about it.

"If you do not think I will bite, anyways..."

[Shey Maknama]

Shey was honestly surprised, and a little ashamed of herself. She floundered for something to say to try to soothe the Pokemorph. “Um…I didn’t…I just…”she couldn’t think of anything to say.

See, that was her problem! When something happened like this, when someone got mad at her, Shey just shut down and withdrew, letting the other person walk all over her. She had been trying to overcome this for year, but she just couldn’t, especially after Devin left. Before he would always protect her, and she could just smile and nod in her version of sticking up for herself. But now she didn’t have any back up…

Shey just hung her head and turned to go back to shore “I’ll just be going now…” she mumbled into the water. Shey didn’t really want to leave like this, but the Pokemorph was mad at her! “C’mon Kat, I don’t think Miss Victoria will want to be seeing me every again. I’m sorry for ruining everything again.” Shey knew Kat would have loved to make friends with the Pokemorph, but Shey had already stuck her foot in her mouth with the Pravus are evil and so are Pokemorphs crap. Well, Pravus was evil (she was a Ranger, she had to believe that!) but, as Victoria had said, who was Shey to be judging people she had just met and knew nothing about. She was a horrible person…

Oh no, there was no way Kat was going to let Shey get all depressed again! That fishy-girl may have been pretty, but she was a Butt! “You’re a big FAT meanie!” The Grovyle squealed, waving her arms for emphasis on how large Victoria was. “Shey was just saying what she knew! I mean, we’ve never seen a ‘whatchamacallit’ before and Pravus are a bunch of fat evil jerks who like to pick on little kids and steal eggs from their Poke-mothers and kill people and steal stuff and hurt things and make the cookies burn in the oven!” kat continued, waving her arms even more wildly, splashing water everywhere.

“Well Miss Pretty-Pokemorph-Person, you are pretty but you’re a fat ugly person on the inside! Tbbbbbt!” with the final raspberry Kat turned and flounced after Shey (as much as a grass-type could flounce while swimming. The Grovyle couldn’t resist a parting shot “You’re not even a Remoor Pokemon! You suck!”

Shey was heartened by Kat’s devout defense of Shey’s good intentions, but she had a feeling that this would just make things worse. “Kat…you should go back and keep talking to the Pokemorph. You always wanted to see one of the up close and she’s really pretty…” Shey almost whispered at her Pokemon.

“Nuh-uh!” Kat’s refusal was punctuated by a shake of the head “I’m not going anywhere the meanie until she apologizes for being so mean!”

[victoria]

Well, it seemed that the trainer had a cat inside her mouth batting around her tongue, quite well at that. Victoria was cheering inside at standing up for her own happily Pravus-Pokemorph manner.

But then that Grovyle had to go off and talk. She had absolutely no idea what this Grovyle was talking about! (This WAS Victoria, after all. If any of that stuff happened, she had absolutely no idea that it was, indeed, happening. As far as she was concerned, the President telling the grunts that it was a really bad idea to separate Pokemon Eggs from their mothers and stealing was just dishonest and cruel. If any of that happened, she would surely have to have a talk with the President himself!) That made that Grovyle a Ranger-trained Pokemon, that most certainly had to be it!

But then that made that girl... a Ranger!

Victoria had to put an end to this, right this instant!

"YOU GET BACK HERE YOU HYPOCRITICAL GECKO!" she shouted angrily, cheeks turning a twinge violet, "I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A WORD WITH YOU AND YOUR LITTLE RASPBERRY THROWING TONGUE!"

And they thought she was pretty...

"YOU AND YOUR.... uhm..."

She paused. Where did that Gecko come from? Well, there was one way to fill those blanks in...

"..... YOUR FOREIGNER WAYS!"

She splashed her way over, a little more or less graceful than the Grovyle herself was doing earlier, but that was simply because Victoria had a hard time out of water... she did seem to be a fish out of it.

"And you take back what you said about that! It isn't my fault your trainer is getting her sources mixed up! Pravus does not steal and take away Pokemon eggs from mothers. I, for one, would never do such a horrid thing, nor even think it!"

She had no idea about the 'be mean to children' part... She had met Emmaline earlier... but Emmaline did not look hurt, or anything like that...

Better not mention it.

"Granted, it isn't quite her fault either..."

On one of the nearby rocks sat a wonderfully calm Vaporeon, staring at the scene. There was really no telling how long she had been there, just that she was not going to stand for her trainer to get into an all-out brawl with some immature Grovyle.

"You have to admit, Victoria, both the Rangers and Pravus weave some pretty fantastical tales about the other side... so where this trainer is getting her information might be a source that is rather... well, biased... as you are getting your information about the Rangers from some of the Pravus grunts who take a little too many bumps to the head..."

Victoria's whole face was the color of a beet right now, though from which insult that made her so angry before would have been something even her poor, muddled mind could not comprehend right now.

Later, on further reflection, she would realize that she was much more offended at the thought of being 'fat' than anything else that Grovyle-gecko had said...

"Though this Grovyle's insults right back are not helping the matter..." the Vaporeon continued, "I say we just let bygones be bygones, as your father would put it, and get to know each other without... political... affiliation."

Victoria did not say anything; just glared at the Grovyle. Showers was right; Shey had absolutely nothing to be sorry for (other than being a Ranger) and the girl was just haplessly attempting to walk away now. It was that ... gecko who was at fault...

But she did not move, not daring to speak first. She was quite certain that if she had said bad things about the Rangers, than Shey would have said something back. Maybe not in quite a vigorous tone, but Victoria did not know that...

And there were no Pokemon protecting Victoria's ego. She probably would have done the same thing if she were in Shey's shoes...

So Shey was not at fault, at least, not in Victoria's eyes. Not with Showers' and that strangely convincing argument.

Showers only waved her tail from one side to the other, awaiting an answer out of someone....