The Heights of Londo [IC 4: Turnabout Trainers]

[Hazuki]

Leah

"Saffron City? Yeah, it's pretty good, but Sorland Town, that's...that's the little place on the Southeast, right?" Juno asks. "That's...a really big change."

~

Alyssa

"Oh, no, it's fine, it's fine. We can go there right now," Utha says, and soon enough, Alyssa finds herself in Utha's inn room, which isn't particularly noticeable, but she does quickly put her food to the side so she can start brewing some tea. Maggie looks at Utha, then at Alyssa, then mimics her slinged arm.

[tgva8889]

Alyssa looks at Maggie, then at Utha, then nods. "Um, how's your arm doing, Utha? Can I help in any way?"

[Comissar]

Leah nods, "Yeah... It, uh, it was a real culture shock..." She pauses a moment, in part feeling the echo of her past depression, and in part out of wariness of over-sharing, "U-umm, I can, uh, I can talk more about it if you want but, uh, but it wasn't exactly the, uh, the happiest time I've had."

[Hazuki]

Alyssa

"With my arm? Not really...although, I would appreciate it very much if you helped put my dinner on plates and such," Utha says, turning briefly to flash a smile as she one-handedly retrieves a couple of cups. "It's not that bad, really, but I can't very well use it and keep it healing. And then there's the training to get it back in fighting shape..."

~

Leah

Juno glances at Leah and smiles just a little. "Go ahead. Maybe we'll have something in common, just, don't mention anything you'd be embarrassed about until we're somewhere a little more..." She glances at the people walking past. "Private?"

[Comissar]

Leah grins, "There's, uh, there's nothing embarrassing. Just, uh, just not cheerful." She's quiet a moment, looking out at the people walking past and taking in the town as a whole. When she speaks again, she has a far-off look, "When, uh, when I lived in Saffron, I used to really enjoy going to the outskirts of the city, trying to find 'wild' areas." She smirks at the description, "Of course looking back it wasn't really all that wild, not compared to here, but at the time it felt very exciting. I enjoyed getting out and away from all the people in the city, get a bit of distance from them. I don't think I quite realised how much I also enjoyed going back to that afterward." Leah glances to Juno, her tone turning a bit more matter of fact, "My parents moved to Londo because of Silph Co. They took up a contract that saw them move out here, and of course I was young enough that I went with them. My Mum and I settled in Sorland, my Dad bounces back and forth between Sorland and the Silph Co. head office in Whitebeam. I... Haven't seen him in a little while now."

She adjusts her bag strap a little, a melancholic edge starts to creep in as she continues, "I was, uh, I was excited about being here, at first. A new wilderness to explore." She gives a small laugh, "That's what it felt like, I don't think the locals would've liked me calling it a wilderness though. But... There wasn't anything but rural life. I couldn't go anywhere or, uh, or really do anything. I tried getting my Mum and Dad to go back to Saffron, but of course they didn't. And I just kinda... Started shutting down." She feels a tightening in her chest as she revisits her past depression, "I, uh, I stayed inside more and more, got to a point where, uh, where I was only really leaving the house so that Saura, my Bulbasaur, could get exercise. Umm, Saura eventually pulled me out of it, started getting me to meet people around town." Leah breaks into a smile again, "She'd run off and force me to chase her, then she'd refuse to, uh, to move when she got me to someone she thought I ought to meet. And... It kinda worked, I started speaking to people again. Started talking with Professor Hawthorne, even ended up working for her for a while as well. Then she sent me to Bastille Town for a delivery, I met Alyssa there and, uh, and then we started travelling Londo together."

[Hazuki]

Juno listens patiently through Leah's explanation of her first few years in Londo, only glancing away to ensure that they're not about to walk into someone else. By the time she's finished speaking, she finds herself outside of a small prefab building, ornamented with cloth and wood that covers the more artificial parts of its construction, with a little sign hanging above the door.

"You...really know how to make a girl feel like her problems are nothing, you know that?" Juno asks, a little smile tugging at her lips. "That's some hard stuff you had to go through, so, uh. I mean, I know what it feels like to come here and eat ****, but you didn't really have a choice, so...it's good that you have your Pokemon and that Professor sounds cool. I think I've heard her mentioned a couple of times. Could you get her to give me a job?" She pauses. "No, wait, never mind, ignore that. Want to see something cool?" she asks, as she holds out a hand, ready to knock on the door. "It's not gonna be Kanto, but it's close."

[Comissar]

"Ah, heh, sorry..?" Leah gives Juno an embarrassed smile, rubbing behind her neck "I, uh, I wasn't trying to get into a, uh, a competition over who's, uh, who's had a rougher time."

She tilts her head a little at Juno's rapid change of mind on asking the Professor for work. She doesn't have a chance to question it, though, as they get ready to enter their destination. She takes a moment to glance up at the building before them, the building seemed fairly unassuming, nothing about it really making it stand out from the other pre-fabs that they'd been walking past. Looking back to Juno, she gives a slightly dubious "... Yeah..?" before glancing back to the building, then to Juno again with a more assured, "Ok, yeah, sounds good."

[Hazuki]

Juno knocks on the door in a particular pattern, a few seconds pass, and then there's the sound of something sliding. She pushes it open, steps inside, gestures Leah to follow along with her and...

Inside the rectangular wooden room is a selection of arcade games, colorful lights above each serving as the main illumination in the room. There are a couple of pinball machines, slot machines, a crane game that contains what seem to be handmade and wrapped Kantoan snacks, a dance rhythm game machine, a photo booth, and a few machines more. Against one wall is a counter upon which sits an Abra, surrounded by all kinds of Kantoan snacks, keychains, and handmade knicknacks that Leah recognizes from her home. A little sign sits behind the counter with a list of tokens the items cost.

Juno takes a large pouch that hangs beside the inside of the door.

"You use these to play the machines, and get others out of them that you exchange for stuff," Juno explains. "It's like an arcade, but you don't need money. Just for people who miss home."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods, helping to setup the plates and dinner. She doesn't really know the right way to setup everything specifically, but she tries her best to setup everything correctly. "Um, I'm sorry you have to go through that. Having to train it all again seems like it'll be hard." She smiles back at Utha.

[Comissar]

Leah's eyes widen as she steps into the small arcade and she comes to a stop in the entryway. She breaks into a wide grin, clapping her hands to her mouth, "H-hah! Wow!"

She glances to Juno, "Th-this, uh, this is incredible! Is it, uh, is it something you set up?"

[Hazuki]

Alyssa

"Oh, thank you, that's very kind," Utha replies, a smile lighting up her face as Alyssa sets her dinner to the plate. She reaches into her robe and retrieves a couple of Pokeballs, which she places on the countertop for the moment. "I'll just leave these here for later, or things might get a little crowded. They like cold food anyway..." She bites her lip, watching Maggie. "Has she eaten already? She's welcome to some if she'd like."

~

Leah

The smile on Juno's face turns into outright laughter at Leah's comment. "You think I have the money for this?" She shakes her head. "Some old person from Kanto with too much time on their hands and...a lot of kindness, I guess. You're only meant to teach the knock to people from Kanto, that's what I was told."

The Abra at the counter's head tilts slowly to the side.

"So...which do you want to try first? Count me out for anything that requires moving my legs," Juno says, shaking the bag of tokens.

[tgva8889]

Alyssa looks at Utha. "Oh. Um, I guess not." She turns to Maggie with an apologetic smile. "Oh, um, sorry Maggie. D'you want any? It's okay if you do." She turns back to Utha and laughs awkwardly. "I, uh, I guess I'm not really an expert at taking care of my Pokemon."

[Comissar]

Leah glances at Juno and gives an embarrassed grin at her laughter. If the other Kantoan was struggling to fund her way out of town, it did seem unlikely that she'd simply hoard arcade machines rather than sell them to get herself back to Kanto. The comment about the arcarde only being for people from Kanto makes her feel a small twinge of regret, she'd have liked to have shown Alyssa, but she finds she's still smiling regardless, "It's really cool that he'd, uh, he'd go to the effort of making this."

At Juno's prompting, she looks around the arcade machines, "It's, uh, it's a shame you're not up to the, uh, the dance game, I've not had a go on one of those in ages." She glances back to Juno with a grin, tucking her hair away from her face as she does, "And, uh, and I'd feel kinda selfish leaving you out given you, uh, you just showed me this place." Returning her attention to the machines, she moves over to the pinball machine, "Did, uh, did you want to take turns on this? Heh, I think, uh, I think you'll probably have me beat, but it'd be fun to play pinball again..?"

[Hazuki]

Alyssa

Maggie bobs her head in approval of getting food, which, considering how they meet, is unsurprising.

"As long as you're doing your best and they don't go hungry, you're doing well," Utha assures Alyssa as she steps up beside her to take her plate. "And you have to keep up with your art and that...whatever was happening earlier, I don't think anyone would blame you for being just a little forgetful."

~

Leah

"You can dance if you want. I kind of want to see how you dance, actually," Juno says as she steps around to the side of the pinball machine, her eyes drifting across the pikachu-tail flippers and the Voltorb bumpers. "Yeah, let's do it. Loser gives the winner their winner's tokens." She hands a token from her bag and slides it into the machine.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

If you'd like, you can roll 2d6 to see how Leah does.

[Comissar]

Leah nods with a smile, "Maybe I'll, uh, I'll take a try at the dance machine in a bit, then." Accepting the proffered token from Juno, she grins, "Sounds good, you're on." Getting into position in front of the pinball machine, she inserts the token before launching the ball and begins to tap at the side-mounted controls, hopefully with more skill than enthusiasm.

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Rolling for pinball! Let's see if Leah's actually any good at it, or just thinks she is

(2D6)[11]

[Hazuki]

As it turns out, Leah actually kicks supreme ass at the pinball machine. A flurry of boops, beeps, and vaguely-identifiable Pokemon noises emerge from the machine as she bats the ball up, left, right, and every way but down as Juno watches. Even her post-work lethargy seems to ebb away as she watches, Leah's mastery of the paddles making her eyes go wide and her lips stretch into a smile. When Leah does finally fail and collects a particularly large number of prize tokens, Juno bops the other out of the way with her hips.

"Alright, alright, I see you, Saffron girl," she says, cracking her knuckles over the pinball machine. "Prepare to meet your...less than equal, if I'm being honest, but act like you're scared i might be better, okay?" With that, she begins her own pinball odyssey. It's impressive, it's dynamic, the tension as she bites her lip, leans in so deep the lights seem to bounce off of her face, it's perhaps the first time Leah's seen Juno so enthusiastic and have it actually be genuine.

But when the ball falls, her score is a digit short of Leah's.

"Damnit..." Juno says, smiling despite herself as she scoops up her prize tokens. "You win." A handy bag happens to sit nearby for prize tokens, making it easy for Leah to carry them as well as her own. "I think you've already got enough there to get one of the good prizes, a couple of the plushies or something?"

[Comissar]

Though initially feeling some trepidation at playing pinball again after so long, Leah quickly finds herself back in the zone. With her points rapidly racking up, she maintains her focus on keeping the ball alive. The score continues to climb until she finally misses with one of the flippers. Toggling it a few times futilely after the ball had already passed, she looks over to Juno with a grin as the prize tokens clatter out. She gives a small hop and step off to the side as Juno bops into her, grinning as she does.

"Hey, you've had more practice than I've had recently, I bet you'll do great!" Despite her assurances, there's something of a confident grin on Leah's face, showing just how aware she was of her high score.

Leah stands a little way back as Juno gets started, resisting the urge to lean on the machine itself as she watches. She didn't want to throw off Juno's game or, perhaps more importantly right now, be accused of cheating by tilting the finely balanced machine. As the game progresses, she finds the tension building. Juno was obviously pretty skilled herself, and Leah's attention drifts a couple of times from the game to Juno herself. She couldn't help but smile at seeing her fellow Kantoan genuinely enjoy herself. And then she hears the sound indicating a game over. Glancing back to the machine, her eyes flick up to the scoreboard just as Juno cedes the win.

Beaming, Leah accepts the tokens as Juno passes them over, "Thanks! Well played!" She looks over to the prizes, to Juno, then back again. Walking the short distance over, she asks, "There's a lot to pick from... What do you think?" She's thoughtful for a moment, then looks back to Juno with a smile, "What would you pick?"

[Hazuki]

All manner of delightful Kantoan items wait Leah's perusal. Those that requrie the fewest tokens are things like dango, onigiri, other snacks, perishables that are nonetheless a delicious reminder of home, alongside little phone charms that tend to be placed among them so that even the most unskilled guest might have something to go home happy with. Then there are the larger items, Pokegear cases, fist-sized plushies of various Pokemon, a few pairs of socks patterned after Pokemon like Pikachu and Kakuna. Then the most expensive, a few larger plushies, a couple of jackets and hats with Kantoan symbols or slogans on them, and, most epxneisve of all, a portable heater like might be used in a kotatsu.

"If I had your tokens?" Juno asks, pursing her lips in thought. "The Staryu socks. I like Staryu; they've got big dumb faces."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Let's say Leah has enough for one big thing, two medium things, or a bundle of small things.

[Comissar]

Leah nods, scanning over the prizes carefully as she decides what to pick, pausing a couple of times to double check her token count while she does. After some deliberation, she picks up a pokégear case that displays the three Kantoan starter pokémon as well as the Staryu socks Juno pointed out. Turning with a smile, she says "Catch." before tossing the bundled socks in an under-arm throw.

"As thanks." She tucks her hair away from her face, grinning to Juno, "For, uh, for showing me this place." Glancing around the room again, she asks, "So, uh, I picked the last one, want to choose the next..?"

[tgva8889]

Alyssa

Maggie bobs her head in approval of getting food, which, considering how they meet, is unsurprising.

"As long as you're doing your best and they don't go hungry, you're doing well," Utha assures Alyssa as she steps up beside her to take her plate. "And you have to keep up with your art and that...whatever was happening earlier, I don't think anyone would blame you for being just a little forgetful."

Alyssa smiles at Maggie and gestures for her to take her portion, helping her up if necessary. She nods at Utha's assurances, though she looks down at her lap. "Yeah, I guess. But I can always do better, right? And taking care of your Pokemon is important if you wanna be a trainer. And I do wanna be a trainer, I think." She shrugs. "I guess I didn't know that for sure before but I do think it's true."

[Hazuki]

Leah

Juno is flexing her pinball fingers when the socks get tossed, but she catches them just in time! She mulls over Leah's words for a moment, regarding the socks, then shrugs and tucks them into her hoodie pocket.

"There's a Pokken machine over there," Juno says, pointing to a machine with two sets of eight buttons on the front that's decorated with a picture of a Charizard caught in the clutches of a Blastoise. "How do you like your chances 1 v 1?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Pokken being the Pokemon fighting game.

~

Alyssa

Maggie accepts Alyssa's attempt to lift her up and she finds herself sitting on the edge of the counter, a small plate to her side whose contents she happily starts levitating towards her mouth.

Utha takes her seat at the table, smiling down at the plate for a second before she looks up at Alyssa. "You want to train Pokemon? For battling? I could teach you sometihng about that, if you'd like. I mean...I don't think you have to. You're so good at art already...but you'd be good at it, i'm certain."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods. "I mean, I don't need to be the best or like, take on the League challenge or something, but enough to protect the things I love." She looks at Maggie, and then at Utha. "Thanks for saying so, though honestly right now I feel like I'd be pretty bad at it."

[Comissar]

Leah follows Juno's gesture, nodding slightly at the suggestion of Pokken as the next game. "Sounds, uh, sounds good." She moves over to the cabinet, rubbing behind her neck as she looked over the arcade machine, then glancing to Juno, "Same as last time..? Winner takes all? Or, uh, did you want to do best of three?"

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Going to pre-emptively roll 2d6 here on the assumption that we'll use the same way to determine a winner, happy to do something else instead if you prefer, just saves a little time if I do so now and we're using that method

(2d6)[7]

[Hazuki]

Alyssa

"Really?" Utha asks, her eyes similarly drifting to the munching Maggie. "You seem to have Maggie with you every time I see you, never in a ball or anything, and she clearly trusts you very much. The most important part of training is the trust you have with your Pokemon; that's the hard part. And...I honestly don't think there's a Pokemon out there that you couldn't charm, Alyssa," she says, then hurriedly downs a mouthful of her meal.

~

Leah

"Let's go with best of three, winner takes all, and..then we can do something that's not going to give me blisters on my fingers," Juno says with a smirk as she steps up to the machine.

The fight that ensues is one that turns Juno into a prophet. Whether it's overwhelmingly matched skill or similar levels of flailing novicehood, neither of the girls manage to gain much of an advantage. For every tail whip, there's a shadow claw. For every block, there's a heavy blow. For every ounce of oki, there's a wake-up. Every pixel of health, from first to last, is fought for on either side. Every game goes for three rounds, the advantage batting from one to another, until they're on the third game, third round, and it's Leah's Venusaur versus Juno's Gengar. One hit left in the game, Gengar swipes, Venasaur leaps back, Gengar hops in, swings, vines rush to block, and in the split second it takes for Gengar to land, those same vines whip out, sending the Gengar hurtling across the scene as "Player 1 Wins" flashes across the screen.

Juno stares for a second, then slumps against the machine, her eyes drifting to the ceiling, one hand on her heart. "To die...humiliated like this...I was hoping...there'd be stars..." she says, her eyes closing in a manner most dramatic.

[Comissar]

Leah nods, taking her place at the console, "Ok, sounds good." She readies herself, giving Juno a brief glance and a grin, "Good luck!"

And then they started. The back and forth was far more intense than she'd expected. Her plays proved to have a lot of holes that Juno managed to take advantage of, but fortunately for her, Juno herself was not an expert either. After a tense first round, she found herself up 1-0. Brimming with nervous energy going into the second, a critical error leaves her open to a beatdown from Juno, evening the score. The third round proved the toughest yet, Leah desperate to not give an inch, but finding that she was running into the exact same stubbornness from Juno. As it came to the last sliver of health for them both, Leah's tapping at the controls grew increasingly frantic until, miraculously, she managed to eke out a victory.

Her silent moment of realisation is broken as Juno dramatically declares her defeat. Laughing at the drama, Leah shakes her head and turns to face the other Kantoan, "Nothing humiliating about it." She offers out her hand, continuing with exaggerated seriousness "You were, truly, a worthy adversary."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa

"Really?" Utha asks, her eyes similarly drifting to the munching Maggie. "You seem to have Maggie with you every time I see you, never in a ball or anything, and she clearly trusts you very much. The most important part of training is the trust you have with your Pokemon; that's the hard part. And...I honestly don't think there's a Pokemon out there that you couldn't charm, Alyssa," she says, then hurriedly downs a mouthful of her meal.

Alyssa smiles, but looks down nervously. "I guess Maggie does trust me, but she's not even really my Pokemon yet, so, um, I dunno if she counts. But, um, thanks." She looks over at Maggie. "I guess what we have is special in its own way." Turning back to Utha, she puts her chin in her hands. "How did you and your Pokemon meet? Was it a hard battle to earn their trust? I know a lot about catching but I've only really ever caught like one Pokemon."

[Hazuki]

Leah

"Beaten twice, in a place I showed you," Juno replies, taking Leah's offered hand to the tune of tumbling tokens, each earned for high combo scores. "If that's not humiliation, I don't know what is. I think, as a consolation prize, you have to dance." She points to the machine just for that.

~

Alyssa

"I...encountered her in peculiar circumstances," Utha says, glancing at the Pokeball containing her Espurr. "She was injured and there was entire...there were complications, and she particularly trusts me because of how I helped her, but not other people. As I said when you met her, her dislike is not to be taken personally. If you're not me, she won't like you."

[Comissar]

Leah breaks into an embarrassed grin, rubbing behind her neck as Juno doubles down on claiming humiliation, even though it did appear to be in good fun. She follows Juno's gesture toward the dance machine, stretching her arms as she starts to make her way to it. "Alright." She gives Juno a sheepish grin, "Promise not to, uh, not to laugh, though? They're fun, but, uh, but again, it's been a while."

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Did you want a roll for Leah's ability at dancing?

[tgva8889]

Alyssa

"I...encountered her in peculiar circumstances," Utha says, glancing at the Pokeball containing her Espurr. "She was injured and there was entire...there were complications, and she particularly trusts me because of how I helped her, but not other people. As I said when you met her, her dislike is not to be taken personally. If you're not me, she won't like you."

Alyssa listens to Utha's story with interest, nodding. "She sure doesn't seem to like me much. I guess there's one Pokemon that doesn't out there." She laughs, smiling when she's finished. "I guess I don't know why my Pokemon trust me the way they do. I can guess but, um, I guess I just don't know. I feel like I know how to talk to people and Pokemon but to do something on purpose...I dunno, I just try to be nice to people when I can."

[Hazuki]

Leah

"I won't laugh," Juno says as she pulls a bottle of water out of her bag and takes a sip, pulling up a small chair that was set along the wall so she can put herself in it. "It'll be fun to watch someone dance and actually enjoy it."

~

Alyssa

"Umm..." Utha gets a thoughtful look on her face as she finishes munching a mouthful of her meal. "I'm not excellent at smooth-talking in that way, but I think it might be as simple as just doing what you usually do more. And in battles. Or you could find somebody who charms Pokemon the way you charm people and convince them to tutor you? Learn their style?"