Practice Makes Perfect [Jasper]

[Endre Arthmael]

Jan 4, Year 1, Evening

This... wasn't going well... Of course the town had to get swarmed by Rock-type Pokemon of all things. Endre wasn't the most knowledgeable trainer by any means, but even if he'd been the least he could have told you that punching rocks was bad and scratching them was even worse. So when he'd finally managed to track down an Anorith yesterday and seen just how... ineffective Emrik's attacks had been... he just.. sort of.. went over and drop-kicked the Anorith away. He had meant to go after it again; he was just helping. But another trainer had spotted it- and presumably not him- so he decided to let them have it and had gone off to rethink his strategy.

Of course, it had taken a while to find one in the first place, given that while they were doing a lot of damage and evidence of the little beasties was everywhere, there were still only about twenty or so in a town this size. So by the time he'd run from the first battle, it was getting dark, and one couldn't very well hunt in the dark without some sort of aid, which he currently lacked. So after little thought, he decided to 'sleep on it'. He then spent the next ten minutes explaining to Emrik the difference between sleeping on a problem and just sleeping.

There wasn't much of one.

He actually had given it a decent bit of thought, though. He knew the little Pancham would be great with a little more experience, but.. Man, what were they thinking giving trainers freshly hatched Pokemon? One would think it would be more effective to hire someone to spar them against each other so that they'd have an advantage against the local wildlife and give trainers a higher success rate, but he supposed they must have their reasons and knew it wasn't his place to question their esteemed leaders. After that, the thought of poor Ambassador Nguyen being so stressed came to mind, immediately dispersing any thoughts of adding more even more work to her plate.

At any rate, he'd awoken around noon, had a hearty lunch with Emrik (couldn't very well fight on an empty stomach, after all!), and with no better plan spent the next several hours looking for Anorith and doing his best to clean up the mess they made when he found anywhere he could help. They picked up quite a bit of debris in a few different areas, and helped one elderly gentleman fix a sign that had been cut into several pieces. Emrik still wasn't entirely sure what he'd gotten into with this trainer, but he supposed he could think of much worse things to do than a little light manual labor.

Now it was getting late again, and today looked like it was going to be relatively fruitless. Honestly, he was a bit disappointed that he wasn't making a bigger impact after that promise he'd given Anita, but aside from that he was pretty at peace. He'd never expected to just go pick up a Pokemon and become an instant master trainer. Growing stronger took time, and it had only been a little over a day. He was sure they'd get the hang of it.

For now, Endre and Emrik sat on a little stone ledge around a large tree in the town square, simply taking a brief rest after a long day of walking and lifting. Emrik seemed a little antsy to get back to work, but Endre gently pet him in response. "Soon enough," he sighed. "The key to happiness in life is learning to enjoy the ups and downs alike. The excitement as well as the stillness." Silver eyes moved skyward then. "Look at it, Emrik.."

The Pancham looked up briefly, then at Endre as if to inquire as to what he was supposed to be seeing.

"The world is so vast... Can you even imagine trying to see it all..?"

This got the Pokemon's attention more, and he looked up more contemplatively. Huh.. When he thought about it he.. supposed he actually couldn't. Trying, maybe, but.. Even having seen just the size of the Legend Portal, how far the horizon stretched in the parts of town where the ocean was in view, he realized he had no idea how big the world actually was, but those things alone were just... very big.

"I wouldn't even want to," Endre said to the Pancham's surprise. "Moving too fast, you'll miss all of the things right in front of you. It's good to relax and just take everything in now and then." Which actually meant pretty often, but.. still.

Emrik thought on it a moment, then nodded. Yeah. He could see that. Feeling rather more calm, he lay back then and just took in the sight of the leaves above him and the clouds above them. It actually was.. pretty nice.

[Jasper Stone]

So in the last fifteen or so minutes or so of walking, Jasper had come to two conclusions: one, his Riolu was female, and two she was ridiculously picky on names. He had listed at least over two scores of female names alone all to be refuted with a simple head shake, and after some thought he had scaled past the names that were more common to him and ended up trying various others that happened to come to mind- some of which he doubted were actual names, but he was trying at least. Meanwhile, his poor Riolu just wanted a name that sounded like her, if that made any sense. She had no names to offer, of course, but she was sure when the right one was spoken, it would just sound right.

“You know you’re making this very difficult,” Jasper noted even with his hand set on his chin and his mind running through another list of names. “Nova never gave me this much trouble..” he half mumbled causing the Riolu to stop walking entirely and head tilt at her new trainer. Upon noticing this, Jasper stopped as well and glanced back. “Nova is….was…” Is? Was? Is. Was. Arceus damn it grammar he didn’t want to deal with this in his own head. “My Blaziken.” And my very best friend. Jasper couldn’t speak those words, however as the Riolu stared at him, the aura sensing organs on either side of her head rose briefly before falling again in what he could only interpret as a strange understanding though whether on the mental level or emotional level he knew not.

Briefly purple eyes faltered away from the Riolu’s gaze as Jasper started walking again. “He passed away a bit ago.” As soon as the words left Jasper’s mouth, the sounds of paws quickly catching up with him vibrated the doctor’s ears before he was nearly knocked forwards by the force of the small dog-like pokemon’s leg hug. Quickly managing to rebalance himself, glad that the Tool Bag he was carrying wasn’t terribly heavy enough to act as a stronger force to the ground, Jasper glanced down finding the Riolu had rather quickly attached herself to his leg in such a strangely comforting gesture that Jasper more or less understood right off. Bending down slowly on one knee, Jasper shifted a little before reaching up under the ‘arms’ of the Riolu and picking her up as he slowly stood again.

It was only then that he realized how upset she was, her immediate features scrunching up tight as though she were about to cry. “Sssshh, hey now… it’s alright…” Jasper murmured holding her a little closer. “You’re alright, and I’m alright…” Was he really? Jasper paused upon realizing it could be a partial lie. Getting a new pokemon wasn’t instantly going to fix him, but he didn’t want this strangely picky, strangely emotional creature to be upset either. For a moment, he wondered how old she was, exactly, but the thought put itself away as he was reminded that anyone from a one year old baby to an old man could be easily upset.

Standing there with a Riolu in his arms now pressed up against his chest more akin to a baby than a pokemon- though one could suppose since Riolu was a baby pokemon it made more sense, Jasper found his gaze flashing around the street briefly surveying the area in an effort to get his mind and emotions off Nova again. The doctor had not been completely oblivious to the fact someone broke the ocean and caused a mass of pokemon to flood the city, but considering he had been more focused on not being an emotional mess in the middle of getting a new pokemon and considering he had to work himself up correctly to achieve that goal, Jasper had put it on the back burner of his mind not even delving into what exactly happened in the first place. Now walking around on the street, he was aware of it again.

“Estella,” was the next name test followed by. “How about a test of skill?” Though not particularly pleased with the name attempt as could be seen from the way in which she gazed up at him with something not quite a frown, the Riolu allowed her head to tilt to one side questioningly at the test. It seemed the small distraction from not only her full realization that she was a replacement but also her inward sensitivity to Jasper’s emotions on the subject of his previous pokemon was enough to cause her to shift focus. What sort of test?

Already she was squirming in his arms attempting to be let go of and causing Jasper to nearly drop her several times before the man finally bent down and released her from his grip. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but there are a few renegades in the city at the moment that could use some taking care of…” Jasper started. However, before he even got a chance to explain further, the Riolu’s head snapped in three directions at once, a surprisingly challenging expression flashing across her features as she dared one of these ‘renegades’ to appear in front of her right then and there- the thought slipping from her mind that she could possibly use aura to detect them.

All too quickly, red eyes caught movement and in a split second, the Riolu ushered out a battle cry and went bounding off down a different street. The flabbergasted sound that escaped from Jasper could have at one time been paralleled with that of an elephant. Did she really just… “Children these days…” Jasper muttered briefly to himself before taking off rather quickly after her. “Evelien? Gilberta get back here!” Ok that was a terrible name even for Jasper though in his defense he was running out of names. “Heather! Lisa come back you can’t just go running off!”

Bounding down several different streets taking turns that her trainer could barely follow due to both her speed and small size that threatened to disappear beyond the turn lines at any moment, the Riolu whipped around yet another street before turning into the square- only to find whatever target that she thought she had been chasing was… not readily there. Head whipping around, she assessed the square before catching sight of a man and a Pancham. “Isabella you are going to be grounded young lady!” her trainer’s immediate voice caused the Riolu to glance back again to find the doctor coming around the corner breathing heavily as he did so. Arceus on high she was fast, and maybe since having become a doctor he hadn’t readily worked his cardiovascular system as hard.

Stopping to try and catch his breath, Jasper stared at the Riolu who was now glancing back at him. “You cannot simply go running off where you please…” Jasper started still panting a little. The Riolu simply made a directional point to the man and the Pancham- as if they were the ones she had been chasing after. Glancing at the directional point, Jasper paused a moment recognizing the man that his strange new friend had pointed out yet not the pokemon beside him. “Mr. Endre?” Jasper started. Though he had known the man since childhood and though there was little difference in their ages, the terribly respectful part of Jasper never ceased to add a ‘Mr.’ to the part of Endre’s name- though one could suppose that considering he didn’t readily use the man’s surname, there was a little bit more closeness.

--
Notes: If it's alright with everyone, until Jasper finds a proper name for this Riolu as a milestone, I won't let her happiness start growing through IC posts.

[Endre Arthmael]

Endre had certainly been paying attention.. just, to everything. The sounds of one little creature running through the square did not stand out any more to him than the sound of the leaves rustling overhead or the few people who passed through the square or did various business on its edges throughout his rest. It was only when he heard his name that his thoughts snapped into focus.

Was that.. "Jasper?" He knew the man preferred more proper titles, and normally would have shrugged and complied, but.. well.. In Endre's mind, 'Doctor Stone' was still Jasper's father, Samuel Stone. When they'd met, the good doctor in front of him was just a sort-of-scrawny kid whose biggest medical endeavors were treating the constant minor (and occasional less-minor) burns his Torchic gave him. Old habits were hard to break.

"It's been a while~" he said heartily. At least a few weeks. Or had it been over a month? Maybe two? Endre had never been one to keep particular track of time. ..Pooossibly because his erratic sleep schedule made the days blur together... "How've you-"

He stopped as his eyes fell to the little blue canine pointing his direction. That.. was a pretty rare Pokemon, wasn't it? What was it called.. He couldn't place it, but he felt pretty certain of both his having seen one before and his not having seen very many before. It certainly didn't feel like something that would be Feral in these parts, at least. "Is he yours?" he inquired, pointing back at the little Pokemon.

Around this time, Emrik had taken notice, and shifted up to his feet inquisitively. ...oh-- oh my! She was lovely! Not really his type-- by which he meant gender-- but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate a pleasant face or, more importantly, such a strong build! Although she probably didn't look it to humans, he could see how strong she could be. It was a fighting-type thing. Readers wouldn't understand. Wait had his trainer said 'he'? ...That.. seemed to be pretty clearly a girl from where Emrik was standing. Maybe humans couldn't see these things so easily either? Though.. maaaybe he was just too far away? His eyes did still feel a little blurry from staring at the bright sky so long. He could hope, anyway.. For now he.. didn't really say anything and just kind of stood there awkwardl--I mean chose not to interrupt because he was just that polite, yes.

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OOC: xD Sounds fine to me. Happiness-evo is currently set pretty low for all species and with Lucario being such a power-house I certainly don't have any objections to delaying it a bit. I'd say still give her points for really significant things, though, like if you win a battle or give her a delicious treat.

[Jasper Stone]

So it was Endre. Jasper relaxed just a little a bit more thankful than not that his Riolu hadn’t randomly pointed at someone he didn’t know at least the name of. Even if the man didn’t use formalities, Jasper was alright with that- since it was Endre, and since he tolerated things, a lot of things. Moving on. “It has been,” he noted and didn’t quite stop even when Endre noticed his pokemon. “I’m doing well, thank you,” he replied pleasantly.

Meanwhile at the realization that this was someone Jasper knew, the Riolu had slowly but surely allowed her arm and paws to falter from the stiff point she had made before leaving it a tad lame almost at her side. O-oh… Well… she’d found his friend! That was almost like finding the… the… uhm… what word had Jasper used? Renegades! That was the word! She had almost found the renegades- kinda, sorta, yes. Straightening a little as though to try and stand taller, she found her eyes meeting the man’s- Endre’s.

As Endre pointed and Jasper’s sights refocused on- would she like the name Annabelle? – “Yes she’s my… new partner,” Jasper replied making an unhealthy pause between the words ‘my’ and ‘new’ before finishing rather quickly with the ‘partner’ bit. He was pretty sure Endre knew that Nova had been gone since… would it really be two years this next March? Jasper faltered upon realizing how fast time had flown by, but since then through way of mouth and just the fact that he no longer walked around with the Blaziken, it had become common knowledge to those that knew the doctor- in some cases even simply in a doctor-patient format.

Straightening and resisting the urge to tug at his jacket, Jasper forced a smile. “Though she’s quite a picky thing name wise,” he noted eyeing the Riolu who glanced surprisingly disdainfully up at her trainer. She hadn’t forgotten the suggestion of Gilberta. Really Jasper? “I see you have a friend?” the doctor transitioned glancing to the Pancham. It surprised him that Endre had a pokemon- after all Jasper had been more than aware the man hadn’t had a pokemon for years. Maybe he won’t be randomly fighting Ferals anymore? There was a brief hope in that moment this was the case. Maybe then the man would stop getting himself hurt needlessly.

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Notes: Yeah I noticed it was pretty low, and while that’s kinda cool for other things- especially three evo baby pokemon such as Pichu and Igglybuff, but for Riolu-> Lucario I want to make it a little harder just for personal preference. I do like the idea of really significant stuff, though *nod*.

[Endre Arthmael]

"--ah, yes. This is Emrik," he said, casually tilting his head in the Pancham's direction. "Whose.. name I just sort of picked? ..Do you like it?" he asked now. Emrik blinked a bit, but then shrugged as if to say he didn't really care. "Guess he's not so picky." He chuckled lightly. "But yes, I just got him yesterday in fact. I figured I could use a little help trying to deal with these Anorith running around.. You know.. Rock-types." And bugs. He suppressed the urge to shudder a little.

[Jasper Stone]

Now if only a certain someone would be that easy to name. Jasper briefly glanced at the Riolu before glancing at Emrik instead. As if she were aware of the very eyes on her, however, the Riolu glanced sideways towards Jasper just as his gaze had turned back. Folding her arms and huffing just a little, she focused her gaze on the Pancham, Emrik, instead. It was not her fault he couldn’t find any name she particularly liked. He just needed to work harder!- And maybe she could be less picky, but it was going to be her name so she had every right to be! Right?

Even from the corner of his eye, Jasper was aware that his strange pup was pouting. However, he did what he could to focus more on what Endre was saying- and oh wow yesterday was pretty recent. Well no duh, Jasper his brain mentally criticized shortly after the first thought. “They’ve certainly made a mess of things,” the doctor noted slipping his hands into the pockets of his jacket. He debated explaining that it was in part the reason a certain someone went bounding off too but thought against it. “Have you caught or defeated a few already?” From the way Endre had been, Jasper couldn’t tell if it had been resting from a battle or just… Endre being Endre.

“I actually went to Ms. Nguyen’s office today and acquired this little one,” he decided to at least explain in return once again noting the closeness of timing. If he’d known Endre was headed there yesterday, Jasper might have rearranged what he had had scheduled in order to go along- though it was debatable now whether or not having someone else there would have been a good thing or not. Ah, no matter, what was in the past was in the past. “How about Mina? was the name suggestion, and for a brief moment it appeared as though the Riolu were truly considering it. However, after a moment she shook her head, and Jasper fought the urge to sigh. Maybe he would go fish through a baby name book along with whatever books he could find on aura and just have her point out the one she liked. Well, that was if she could read, anyways. This thought would actually spark an interest but would be put away for later. If she couldn’t yet read, maybe he could try and teach her- or at least read her stories.

[Endre Arthmael]

"Well, ah..." He hesitated a few moments, trying to figure out how to word it. He was pretty okay with the state of things for his own sake, but explaining them to someone else was slightly embarrassing, if only because he had a reputation to uphold. Were the situation different- like if it had been a swarm of.. he didn't know, Zangoose or something, he wouldn't even have felt the need to get a Pokemon to help him take a bite out of the problem.

Fortunately in the time it took him to think on that, Jasper moved to a different subject. Endre blinked a bit at the information. "Oh really? That's quite a coincidence, isn't it." He gave a single-syllable chuckle. "Though I suppose our esteemed leaders are giving out new Pokemon almost every day anymore." It was still amusing that two people with such different histories with Pokemon and who had such a long-standing friendship would have such close timing, but he wasn't one to dwell on such things for long.

When he saw the Riolu decline another name, his focus shifted. "...Renata? Ada? Nikolett? Csilla? Mariska? Dorika? Piri?"

[Jasper Stone]

When the other man had started to join in on the name guessing, the Riolu’s head jutted up as she stared at him listening to each of the names. However, it seemed none of them floated her proverbial boat, and she shook her head quickly- causing the loose ends of her ‘mask’ to shake with her in a blur of black and blue. Suddenly dizzy from shaking too hard and disrupting more of her senses than she initially realized one of them actually being her aura sensing systems, she flopped backwards sitting down with her paws drawn up in front of her. Someone…make the world stop spinning, she didn’t mean to break it!

The thud of a butt hitting the ground and the disoriented look upon his Riolu’s face nearly forced a laugh from Jasper. Instead, it came off as a snort. “Don’t hurt yourself, silly aura us-“ Jasper found himself suddenly cut off as, despite her dizziness, the Riolu seemed to snap to attention at the “name”. Jasper nearly deadpanned. She couldn’t… she… it couldn’t just be that easy. “User…” he finished, yet the Riolu was already forcing herself back to her hind feet and clapping her front paws together excitedly.

There was no stopping it this time. Jasper deadpanned. Aura really? She liked that over the how many other names had he tried? Wasn’t aura using a skill though? Wouldn’t it be weird to have such a name? Well… he supposed people did name their children after Lances and Dirks and Arceus knew what else though thankfully he hadn’t heard anyone name their child- oh well there was a certain cartoon of his childhood where someone had named their child something- ah what was it again? He was getting old! The name would come back to him eventually, anyways… “Are you sure Aura, then?” Jasper asked, but before he had even got a chance to finish the sentence, she’d nodded her head.

Jasper couldn’t decide whether to laugh or face/palm. After all those names, and she’s suddenly happy with the state-the-obvious sort of a name. Well, he supposed as long as she was happy? Certainly she seemed to be pleased as punch hopping from one foot to the other in what Jasper could only assume was some form of dance.

[Endre Arthmael]

Endre and Emrik watched the display with slight confusion, though a smile slowly spread across Endre's features as he picked up on just what was happening, and when it was over he let out a hearty laugh. Emrik, on the other hand, felt he'd probably missed something.. "I don't suppose Aurelia or Aurora would be a suitable compromise?" Each sounded a lot like Aura, but they were actually, you know, names. Of course if she didn't like them he wasn't going to be the one to argue. He just thought he'd offer his friend a straw to grasp. (Also, it suddenly actually clicked that the Riolu was female. He'd heard Jasper say a feminine name and followed in turn without thinking, and only now connected the two. The thought was followed by one of a slight 'whoops', but the indiscretion was then quickly forgotten.)

So wait, they were.. naming the girl then? Emrik's mouth twisted a bit as he finally caught up, shifting the leaf in it to point upward. Why did things have to be so complicated? He might have tried to say his trainer was better at naming, but she'd turned down a lot of his names, too, so it was clearly that she was just difficult. Girls.. He felt rather silly now for admiring her earlier.

[Jasper Stone]

Though still conflicted on how funny or not funny the entire –how long had it been now?- however long- had been, Jasper found himself chuckling a tad at Endre’s laugh. There was always something contagious about a deeper laugh, and after the fact, he found it could be rather funny to different eyes. Or maybe just make your surname Sphere a bit of sarcasm flickered into Jasper’s mind for a moment as Endre suggested names of similar sound. Did pokemon even have surnames? Well, he supposed in the wild they probably had some form of family structure, maybe.

Ah she liked that yes she did~ She just knew he’d find the right name---oh! Small ears twitched as she caught the name Aurora, and two sets of paw pads came together as a brief flicker of interest flashed through those red eyes. Aurora was pretty too~ “Lu….” She mumbled the last syllable of her species more to herself for a moment before giving a rather quick nod. “ Ri! Olu~” she less than modestly proclaimed her decision on the name thrusting a free paw to her somewhat out-struck chest. She would be Aurora – though *~special~* people could call her Aura too! With that matter altogether settled, she stretched briefly pulling both her arms back and forwards again. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the newly named Aurora was glad she hadn’t been stuck with the name Gilberta.

“I’m so very glad that’s settled…” Jasper half laughed before shaking his head a little. Nova was certainly much easier… Somehow it occurred to Jasper then that wasn’t exactly the case. Nova had set him on fire more often than not, and he was pretty sure some of those burn marks would never quite go away. “Thank you for suggestions, Endre,” he smiled shortly.