One step further ;mod

[Needles]

. { ❀ } .
YOU'DFLYUPACROSSTHESKY
JUST TO PROVE YOUR POINT NOW WOULDN'T YOU?

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THOUGH Alice had arrived on the islands just after 10 o' clock that morning, by three in the afternoon she still had yet to stumble upon the laboratory where she would choose the Pok?mon who would remain by her side for the remainder of her journey. Part of the blame could be placed on the map she had been given by an elderly man, which, though it was supposed to point the way to the lab, was most certainly flawed in the sense that it never actually stated exactly where her destination was. The other half of the blame lay only on Alice herself, who couldn't help but stop every block or so to hurriedly sketch down any manner of wondrous sights she found. Why, already she had seen nine species of Pok?mon that Alice had never met before, and three that she hadn't even seen on the pages of her mother's nature books. It really was quite thrilling.

At last, however, Alice found she had finally (and quite accidentally) found the lab. Sighing happily, she slipped her beat up sketch pad back into her satchel and strode up the dirt path, thoughtfully wiping her shoes before entering the gleaming scientific center. Immediately the young woman was struck breathless by the sheer wonder of the place. For a girl who had grown up in a small cottage in the woods, with no television or internet to speak of, the technology in here seemed like something out of one of her science fiction novels. Tubes ran up the walls in tight coils, and large screens flickered in the distance, flashing images that Alice doubted she could understand even if she studied them for a week. Something was politely beeping in another room, and another device whirred with a click and a groan that suggested it had been doing so for some time.

Completely mesmerized, Alice just stood there for a long moment, drinking in every detail of the lab. Then she gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and leaned forward onto the balls of her feet in order to peeking deeper into the establishment. So far, there had been no signs of life, not even Pok?mon.

"...Hello? Pardon me, but is anyone here?" Alice called softly, hoping she hadn't accidentally intruded on anything important.

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WORDS! 393
TAGS! None <3
CREDIT! lyrics from "Strong Enough" by Tal Bachmen, template by zee of caution
NOTES! first post yay!

[ZOM]

Analyzing data was what Ava did best. It was what had landed her this job in the first place; she was young, and relatively disinterested in the aspect of being a lab aide that involved Pok?mon and human interaction, but she was and had always been brilliant. She much preferred the company of an equation to that of another person, or to any living thing. Of course, that didn't mean she lacked interest in the more technical, scientific subjects that related to Pok?mon. What moves could a Pok?mon's offspring be born with when the parent breeds with this or that Pok?mon of a different species? Is evolution always sudden, or can it be slower and more like puberty in humans? How does a Pok?mon's personality factor into its battling capabilities? What exactly about berry mixtures results in physical changes to the Pok?mon that consumed them? In what ways could she adapt the abilities and features of certain Pok?mon to benefit humans and create new technology?

These were the questions that captured Ava's attention, and what better place to study such things than at a lab which housed nearly every known species of Pok?mon at any given time? At sixteen she had forgone further formal education during her first year at a university (which she had reached exceptionally early), claiming that it bored her and didn't present enough of a challenge, and instead sought work at the lab and in the field. Now eighteen years old and deeply entrenched in her research and multitude of miscellaneous projects, she saw the lab as a wonderful tool for her science, but no more than that, really.

That was why it was so difficult when she had to do actual aide work that involved more than numbers and figures. People got factored in, and suddenly everything was complicated. Numbers she understood. People she did not.

Ava, bent over a desk in one of the side rooms of the lab, glanced up from her manic scribblings at the sound of someone's voice in the main room. She had been busy at work trying to blueprint the rough design for a machine which would carve Apricorns into Pokeballs just as craftsmen had done by hand for ages, except much faster. It was tremendously impractical, she thought, to seek out those craftsmen whenever a certain type of Pokeball was desired, and then have to wait days at a time for a good number of those Pokeballs. She thought it was quite a good idea, if she did say so herself, and her mind had been set on figuring out the schematics. Now, though, she was distracted, and already she could tell that her groove had been thrown off.

She sighed. With an irritated frown, she rose to her feet and looked briefly over at a screen on the far wall of the room, which displayed scans of some previous drafts of her machine blueprints as well as some photos and notes taken from studying the work of Pokeball craftsmen. It could wait for a few minutes, she supposed. Out the door she went, and within a minute of Alice's call, there Ava was in front of her. "Can I help you?" Her tone was not especially friendly, but it wasn't unfriendly, either. Ava just had places she would rather be and things she'd rather be doing, and she wasn't bothering to hide that fact. The look in her hazel eyes betrayed her disinterest, the bags under those eyes suggested that she had gone without sleep for a while, and her disheveled brown hair nearly confirmed it. Anyone else might think she'd been awoken from a nap. Really, she was just hoping to get back to her work and power on until she couldn't remain conscious any longer.

Had to deal with this little blonde girl first. Then it was back to depriving herself of sleep -- in the name of science.

[Needles]

. { ❀ } .
YOU'DFLYUPACROSSTHESKY
JUST TO PROVE YOUR POINT NOW WOULDN'T YOU?

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AT the sight of the young lab assistant appearing in front of her, Alice's face lit up. She rocked back onto her heels, lacing her fingers together. Alice had never been the best at reading people, especially when the message she was supposed to be reading was 'Go. Away.' So, despite the coolness in her tone and the slight disdain in her eyes, Alice greeted her with a sweet smile, as if the two were friends who had stumbled upon each other in the heart of a busy city.

"Yes, thank you! I'm sorry to bother you on such short notice," she said with a small sigh of relief, "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like a starter Pok?mon. Um...a Cubone, if you have it. O-or I could pick another if you don't!" she added hastily, not wanting to seem high maintenance.

Still, Alice did truly hope they had a Cubone available. There was something about the melancholy Pok?mon that had always made her heart ache. Perhaps it was the loneliness - Alice certainly could relate to that. She had never let on to her parents, of course, but growing up alone had been difficult. She'd had her parent's Pok?mon as companions, true, but they had always been more of...guardians...then actually friends. And when Al had curled up with her picture book in the middle of the night, a lit candle casting a glow over the pages, it was the carefully painted Cubone that she would always come back to, a single tear rolling down the milky white skull it wore as it called for its mother.

Alice blinked with a blush, realizing she had drifted into her own thoughts once again. She really would have to be more careful about that. At home no one cared if she went long periods of time without acknowledging the world around her, but here...well, she got the feeling it wouldn't exactly be encouraged. Again, she nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, a crooked apologetic smile appearing as she recalled the other half of her request.

"Also I believe I get some of my items here?"

Oh dear, she really was being difficult, wasn't she?

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WORDS! 386
TAGS! ZOM
CREDIT! lyrics from "Strong Enough" by Tal Bachmen, template by zee of caution
NOTES! Sorry these are on the short side. Still getting a feel for my character <3

[ZOM]

Of course they had Cubone. There wasn't much the lab didn't have. Ava was prepared to tell Alice so, but she paused upon noticing a sort of... vacancy in the girl's eyes. Had she started to daydream spontaneously? How... peculiar. Eh. Ava furrowed her eyebrows and stared until Alice seemed to snap out of it, at which point the aide finally responded.

"Yes, we have Cubone. And yes, you get items. Give me a while, I'll find them." Hopefully the Cubone wouldn't be too far out in the field today. They usually liked to burrow, too, which might make this difficult. Sigh. She rolled up the sleeves of her lab coat and snagged three Pokeballs on her way out the door. Thus began the hunt for the lab's Cubone population.

As it turned out, they had been burrowing. She'd been pointed in several different directions by various Pokémon she'd been desperate enough to ask, and then had spent a while following trails of upturned soil to see if Cubone had made the tunnels beneath them. Usually Drilbur or Diglett were the culprits, and sometimes the occasional Nincada, but finally Ava found a small group of Cubone who had curiously poked their heads out from under the soil, their skull caps spotted with dirt. "Get in the balls." Already aggravated and having spent a considerable amount of time finding the little pests, Ava withdrew the trio to their Pokeballs without further ado. Now she could return to Alice. Finally.

It had taken a little over fifteen minutes, but Ava walked through the back door again, sighing. She didn't say a word at first; instead, she picked up a couple of items from one of the bins on a counter top. She lifted one, a black card, up to Alice's face level and held it like a camera. There was a clicking sound, and then the card came to life, lighting up with the image it had just captured. "Here. It's your ID. It holds your money, and unless you want to exchange it for Parsennes, you'll automatically get 100 Soleres once you fill out all your information on the card. And here," She handed over both the electronic card and another gadget, "is a smartphone. It has a Pokedex app. You can see information and statistics on Pokémon. You'll want to use it on the Cubone to make an informed decision on which you want."

And speaking of the Cubone, here she tossed the three capsules that held the Pokémon. Each Pokeball burst open against the tile floor in a flash of light before bouncing back into Ava's hands, and three Cubone stood blinking up at Alice.

[atrb=border,0,true] ♂ Cubone, Lv 5 #1 Scroll for more details Most Cubone cry for their lost mother. This Cubone cries for that, and also for absolutely everything else. He's a sensitive little soul who is dreadfully lacking in self-confidence, so any insult can set him off and leave him down on himself for ages. Anything the least bit sad will bring tears to his eyes. On top of that, he's frightened of just about everything, and fear evokes hysterical tears from him. Peaceful, quiet, kind people that he is familiar with can sometimes calm him and help him to be more stable, but as of yet this effect has yet to linger without their constant presence. Name: - Ability: Rock Head Moves: Growl, Tail Whip, Double Kick

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♂
Cubone, Lv 5
#2

Scroll for more details

Rather peculiar for a ground-type, this Cubone adores the water. Even if it makes him feel a little weak after long-term exposure, he simply can't get enough of the stuff. Rain delights him, pools provide hours of entertainment, and he is magnetically drawn, it seems, towards water-type Pokémon. Because he is so fond of water-types, he has gotten into the habit of taking electric-type attacks for them, since he knows he'll be alright and will in fact get a boost from it. He'll do the same for any of his friends, of course. -NAME- is an extremely caring creature who will sacrifice his own safety and health to assist someone he loves. He's quiet and may be difficult to get close to, since he has been taken advantage of for his kindness before, but once you've made friends with him you have a loyal ally and confidant for life.

Name:
-

Ability:
Lightningrod

Moves:
Growl, Tail Whip, Double Kick

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♀
Cubone, Lv 5
#3

Scroll for more details

-NAME- is a fierce creature, compelled by the death of her mother to be a survivor. She looks out for herself first, everyone else last, and she fights with the vicious desperation of a trapped animal. The thought of growing old and having children terrifies her (because she knows the fate that Cubone and Marowak must ultimately face), and she tends to be rather immature and rude towards youths as a result. It might be possible to crack her shell and reveal a more gooey, insecure, fearful interior. She just needs someone to show her that everything is not so dire as she believes. Then, maybe she would learn to help others as well as herself.

Name:
-

Ability:
Rock Head

Moves:
Growl, Tail Whip, Double Kick

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[Needles]

. { ❀ } .
YOU'DFLYUPACROSSTHESKY
JUST TO PROVE YOUR POINT NOW WOULDN'T YOU?

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Alice’s shoulders sagged slightly with relief as the woman affirmed the presence of Cubone in the lab. So far so good! She hadn’t really had a back up choice prepared, honestly. Her mother had tried to sit her down before she had left, drawing her firmly to the kitchen table and showing her medical sketches of several good choices: Bulbasaur and Whismur and Poliwag. All Pok?mon, Alice had not failed to note, that eventually evolved into large, protective creatures. She had smiled and nodded and promised to choose something that would take care of her. But Alice wasn’t looking for another bodyguard. She was looking for a friend.

As the lab assistant exited, Alice shyly stepped forward to look at a few diagrams that were on display. Incredibly detailed, they showed several studies of how different Pok?mon faired in different habitats. It was wall very interesting, Alice thought, and as she studied the displays carefully, the time in which the assistant was gone passed swiftly. Had she realized how long it had taken, Alice likely would have been distressed only over the trouble she was causing the busy scientist.

Only when the exasperated woman returned did Alice straightened up, sweeping over eagerly. She opened her hands for the items, but was left waiting as an odd black square was raised to her eye level. A squeak of surprise left her mouth as a bright light flashed, then to her amazement, her face was captured on the screen. Alice took with, gazing with wonder at the device. Her family had owned cameras, yes, but nothing so precise and small as this. And there was her face, reflected perfectly, from her straight and narrow nose, to her high cheekbones, and deep brown eyes. Her expression was one of surprise, mouth open slightly, eyebrows raised. Still, she grabbed it gleefully, tucking it safely into a pocket on the inside of her satchel. The phone she turned toward the newly released Pok?mon.

"…hello there," she greeted with a soft smile, dropping into a crouch to study the Cubone. The first, a female, returned her greeting with a soft growl, flicking her boneclub up as if to show her strength. Behind her, two males hung back, the first gazing at Alice curiously, then seeming to grow bored and instead turn his attention to a full aquarium on the far wall. The last only flickered his gaze at Alice, shoulders hunched and body quaking, as if just waiting for a striking blow. Briefly it made eye contact with Alice, then dropped his gaze, tears flaring up in his dark eyes.

"My, that’s a very nice club you have there, " Al said to it softly, nodding toward the timid Cubone’s bone, "I’d love to see you use it sometime. Perhaps you’d like to join me on my adventure?" At this Alice glanced up at the other woman, silently asking if her choice was acceptable.

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WORDS! 503
TAGS! ZOM
CREDIT! lyrics from "Strong Enough" by Tal Bachmen, template by zee of caution
NOTES!

[ZOM]

The meek little Cubone, although previously preoccupied by staring at the ground and trying not to cry out of nervousness, glanced up quickly to meet Alice's gaze when she addressed him. He made a quiet squeaking sound, hugging his bone club to his chest, and sniffled in a way that made his helmet rattle. Still, despite all of his reservations and nerves, he nodded slowly. A trainer wanted him. A trainer had picked him...!

Ava nodded at Alice, handing over the Cubone's Pokeball. "Good, that's settled. Be on your way, then." She seemed quite relieved to be finished with all of this, and eager to return to her work in the back room. She stooped down briefly to give the meek Cubone an awkward, half-hearted pat on the head, and to return the other two Cubone to their Pokeballs. Then, without another word, she headed out the back door to set them loose in the fields again. Alice could see herself out, Ava was sure.

That left Alice alone with the Cubone, who was still bashfully, and tearfully, staring up at his new trainer. He would glance away occasionally, too shy to hold his gaze still for long, but he seemed quite excited. He was just so happy, he could... c-c-cry... Sobs wracked his little frame. He rubbed at his eyes and sniffled, overcome with emotion.

Alice receives a Cubone, 100 Soleres, a Trainer ID, and a Smartphone!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/IjiL1.png[/img] Trainer ID
[img]http://i.imgur.com/C8Owi.png[/img] Smartphone

[img]http://www.serebii.net/blackwhite/Pok?mon/104.png[/img]
[b]Cubone, Level 5[/b]
Name: -
Gender: M
Ability: Rock Head
Moves: Growl, Tail Whip, Double Kick
Overworld Moves: -
Personality: Most Cubone cry for their lost mother. This Cubone cries for that, and also for absolutely everything else. He's a sensitive little soul who is dreadfully lacking in self-confidence, so any insult can set him off and leave him down on himself for ages. Anything the least bit sad will bring tears to his eyes. On top of that, he's frightened of just about everything, and fear evokes hysterical tears from him. Peaceful, quiet, kind people that he is familiar with can sometimes calm him and help him to be more stable, but as of yet this effect has yet to linger without their constant presence.