Oop! I Almost Forgot!

"My goodness, Maggy, you almost missed it! The Lab is right over there!" The short, stout old woman scuffled through the town, almost tripping over a small, uneven in the grass. After scolding herself with a 'oh, silly me!' She regained her composure, wrapped the shawl around her shoulders (although it was quite warm out) and continued. This practice was completely new to her; while she had seen at least two Pokemon Labs in her ventures, it had never actually been necessary for her to visit one (minus Sinnoh's). However, she had left behind everything that she used on her previous travels, including her three Pokemon, old bag, medicine, potions, berries, Pokedex, and Pokeballs. Probably not the best decision, but starting anew was something Maggy took literally. Shuffling through her very purse-esque 'bag', she found one thing; Lint. "Oh, Froslass and feathers! I haven't got a thing on my person," She realized. When planning for her trip, she convenientally forgot everything but herself.

Standing up straight once more, (which always required a bit of a hunch for her) she gave a smile back to the world. It didn't really matter. She'd buy new things, get what was required from the Professor in this region, and be on her way. It wasn't a big deal. And besides; there was no going back now. She had to make do with what she had. And the old lady had been in tighter jams than this one. On top of that, it felt good to have basically nothing; it was like being young again.

Ah, yes. Maggy Amethyst Violett was ever the optimist. Sometimes, her positive thinking was unrealistic. But it's what got her through the day. She approached the door to the Lab, bag in hand, eyes shut in a happy grimace. She knocked three times on it, and waited. It's a safe guess that the Professor didn't see this everyday.

The sun was still bright in the sky, even though it was beginning to get late. The long summer days made for more time in the heat, which wasn't exactly a good thing for such an open place. Praz didn't have a lot of trees, so there weren't many spots with shades in them. The fact that they hadn't had rain in a few weeks was also a bit worrying. They were told not to use Rain Dance due to the fact that it lasted five days straight. They were only to use it in dire situations, hopefully it wouldn't come to that, though.

It had been a long day for the young professor. He'd received some extra work today and he was only just finishing it. His assistants were all going home and he was beginning to think he was never going to get any work done. Not to mention all the interruptions by young, aspiring boys and girls wanting to start out their adventure. He loved helping them out, but sometimes he just wished there was another lab open nearby. Times like this made the professor a bit cranky. As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. He considered pretending he wasn't there, but he realized that would be a little cruel. He got up from his desk hesitantly and walked towards the door. He adjusted his glasses, as he always did, before opening the door with a smile.

When he saw it was an older lady his smile faded instantly. What could this woman possibly be selling? Still, it was a professor's job to be hospitable and that's what he was going to have to do. He opened the door wider and gestured for her to come on in. He closed the door behind them and looked at the woman with a faked smile on his face. "How can I help you, ma'am?

Not noticing the Professor's obvious false welcome, Maggy allowed herself to shuffle past the Professor, and into the lab. "Well, I'm here to start my journey, of course. Couldn't you tell?" She chuckled softly, as she obnoxiously sat at his desk, moving aside papers, as setting her bag on top of it. "My oh my, quite a bit of work you have here. I'm sure you could spare a moment for an old woman? I mean, I haven't even a Pokemon. . . I thought you could help with that. You can, help me, correct?" She asked, but this old lady wasn't about to take no for an answer. She started to breezily organize the Professor's desk, putting papers together that she had no idea about, and color-coding his pens. After she abandoned it, she crossed her hands across his desk, and smiled up at him. "A Pokemon, Pokedex, Pokeballs. . . you know, those sort of things. Aren't you obliged to give them to those who are starting their journeys? Now, I know what you're going to say, I'm too old to go on a Pokemon Journey. But it just isn't so. Now, I don't want to be a burden . . . but can we hurry things along? It's getting quite late, don't you agree, dear?"

Getting up, pushing his chair in (mind the manners), and walking over, Maggy handed him her bag. She didn't know how these Professor things worked, but if it was anything like how she remembered, she'd be out of his Lab in a jiffy.

((OOC: efff sorry for the extremely short post))

The professor was a bit taken aback when the woman walked on over to his desk and sat down. He followed suit and sat in his own chair. He was a bit surprised that this woman claimed to be STARTING her adventure. She was easily over fifty, who would start this late? She seemed polite though and was really nice, so he didn't want to seem rude to her. He watched simply as the woman began organizing his papers. Honestly, that would probably make him lose track of all the work he'd done in the past hour, but he didn't have the heart to tell the woman to stop.

He wasn't completely sure what he was supposed to do. Was he actually supposed to give her what she wanted? Would she even actually go on an adventure? He was a little skeptical, but had to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Sure... We can definitely get you a pokemon!" His enthusiasm growing as the he said that. He stood up and put her bag on his desk. "Now, what kind of pokemon are you interested in? I have a few starters and some Eeevee. Which do you think you'll pick as your... starter?"

At his question, she pondered it for a moment. Alright, not just one moment, but two moments. Important decisions required evaluation and thought. This was who she was going to travel the Elix region with. She looked at the Pokeballs, holding them in her hands, as if weighing them. One that she kept in her hands for a moment, she allowed to be released from it's Poke-ball. An unusually large Eevee appeared from it, with a look of contempt on his face. She looked at him for a moment, pet his ears, and allowed him to return to his Poke-ball. Rubbing her chin, she hadn't come to a decision yet. "Well, I'll be darned," After letting that be known, she pulled her hand over her mouth. "Excuse my cursin', dearie. I just can't seem to pick!" Suddenly, a shadow appeared next to her, through the window. She turned towards it, where a yellow-orange Pokemon had it's face in the window. Or, faces.

"Oooh! I want that one!" She exclaimed. She grabbed her bag, and scuttled over to the window, slowly. "Well aren't you just the cutest thing." She proceeded to open the door for the Combee, allowing it to flutter into the lab, tentatively. "Well, what do you say, hon'?" She turned to the Professor. "May I have this little sweetheart?" She rubbed the Pokemon's head, causing all three faces to show content.

The professor was a bit worried that the woman wouldn't find an appropriate partner for her. He became even more worried thinking that a woman like that wouldn't be able to protect herself and a weak pokemon wouldn't do much for her either. He had to trust that she knew what she was doing, unfortunately, she wasn't finding a pokemon she liked for a starter. Maybe he could take her out to catch something she was interested in, that would be rather interesting. He saw her walking over to the door and he walked over with her. "Ma'am, please close the," he began as she opened it, "door..." She opened the door and a Combee came flying in. It seemed friendly enough, so the professor didn't worry. "I don't see why not, it seems friendly enough."

All of a sudden it became colder in the room and even a little darker. The door was still open and a Gastly had made its way inside. The Gastly laughed creepily then closed the door behind it and made the room seem even darker. It wanted to cause trouble for somebody. The Combee hovered between them and the ghost pokemon wanting to defend them before the professor could do anything. It would be perfect practice for the lady and the professor could jump in at any moment if she needed help "I think your Combee is ready for its first battle!"

Hugging the Combee, she smiled at the Professor. "Oh, joy. I just know that me and this Combee are going to be the best of friends." She proceeded to get an empty Pokeball from the Professor's bag, when a chilly breeze hit her. Turning around to discover the room has gotten darker, she knew that this had to be the work of a mischevious ghost Pokemon. "Oh my, my, my. Now this won't do," She commented, looking at the horrifying smirk on the Gastly's face, when Combee wedged herself. . . themself. . . itself between the Pokemon and Maggy and the Professor. "Oh, I think you're right. There's just no reasoning with a naughty Pokemon. Combee, dear, do me a favor, and use Gust? I'd be be ever so appreciative." Combee nodded her top heads, and the bottom one showed a determined expression. She flew up to the same level as Gastly, and whirred her wings at a frightening speed, but instead of flying upward, a funnel blasted from her body, spiraling towards the Gastly.

"Oh, you're doing such a good job, dear." Maggy told the Combee, who responded with three smiles. The previous Gust, however, had blown around the Professor's papers and items. Nothing he's going to be too excited about cleaning up.

The professor was pleasantly surprised at the woman's experience. She had obviously done this before, and she was great at it. Of course there was only few things that could be done with such a week pokemon starting out, but she was doing a great job. Still, Combee didn't know many moves and it wouldn't learn another until level thirteen. He went back to his desk and opened the bottom drawer. The drawer was full of TMs, he scrambled through several looking for something in particular.

The Gastly braced itself for the winds coming its way. It still got blown back a little back onto the wall and fell onto the floor. It looked weak already, but managed to recover and return to hovering. The sweet scent fell over it and made the gas around it become more clear than dark. The ghost pokemon got closer to the Combee and stuck out its long tongue. It slid it over all three faces of the Combee leaving the other, strange pokemon dripping with its sticky saliva. Fortunately, the Combee had not become paralyzed, but it did become significantly slower than it was before.

Professor Pine found the TM he was looking for after a while and ran back towards the old woman and her Pokemon. He handed her the Technical Machine. "Ominous Wind," he said panting a little, "Should be super effective against Gastly." At the sound of this Gastly yelped in horror. Then a smug grin came over its face again.

As the wind impacted the Gastly, Combee didn't look too impressed. All three of her faces turned to a frown, because it barely did any damage to the Ghost Type. "Now, now," Maggy reassured sympathetically, "You can do it, hon'." She announced, as Gastly used a Lick attack on the distracted Bee-Pokemon. While Combee's faces dripped with ghostly saliva, Gastly hovered in front of her with an evil smile on it's face. "Oh dear," Maggy said calmly. "Are you hurt, Combee-dear? Paralyzed, perhaps?" Combee's eyes shot open, as it reassured it's soon-to-be trainer. "Com," It replied to her, which was enough for Maggy. "Alright, use another Gu---"

Before completely issuing the command to a slowed Combee, Professor Pine approached her, explaining the TM Ominous Wind. "Oh, goodie. What a nice little move. I'm sure this will suit you nicely, Combee, sweetheart," She smiled, gesturing for the bee to come over to her. Combee did, one face still glaring at Gastly, and Maggy pressed the Technical Machine to Combee's body, which immediately emitted a purplish glow. After a moment, the disc dropped to the ground, no longer functional. "How lovely. Give it a try, then, Combee," Maggy encouraged.

Combee's face sucked in air, filling their little cheeks, and after a minute, blew out a suspicious looking dark wind in circular pulses, aimed at Gastly. "Combee," They had a cheery expression now, surprised that they succesfully administered the Ghost-type move. "What a nice job you did," Maggy praised.

The Gastly was surprised at how strong the ominous wind was, especially against itself. It was still a weak pokemon and had nothing to counter with, but it didn't want to faint without having really hurt the annoying bee. The ominous dark wind pounded against the Gastly's sensitive body, but the gas pokemon powered through it and managed to reach professor pine. The professor couldn't believe what he was seeing, the Gastly was pretty strong for such a powerful attack. It was paralyzed with awe and, now, fear. The Gastly smirked devilishly again and licked the professor's face. Then, all at once, it was sent back rapidly at the wall once again. It was pushed against it by the strong winds and as soon as it made contact the gas around it disappeared and it fell to the floor with crossed eyes. The temperature in the room increased significantly and the lighting seemed to have fixed itself.

The professor jumped with a grossed out expression on his face. He was wiping at his face desperately, "Gross, gross, gross," he kept saying. He took off his lab coat and wiped his face off, then reached into it for a pokeball. He enlarged it and threw it at the fainted Gastly. It would make a good starter for someone, or maybe a good partner for himself. "Wow, ma'am, I have to hand it to you; for someone you're age you're pretty good!" He was genuinely impressed, most people that came by had some trouble getting into a battle so soon. Not that this kind of thing happened all the time, no, not at all. "So, I guess that's all set, should we get you a pokedex and some pokeballs then?"

"Well, now. Someone my age?" She fixed Professor Pine with a stern glare, but eventually her expression softened. "I am, now? Why, thank you. I prefer to avoid battles whenever possible, though," Said the old woman, who wasn't particularly keen on violence, no matter the situation. "Yet, it helps you bond with your Pokemon. Oop! I almost forgot!" She said, scuttling towards the Professor, and taking an empty Poke-ball. [b]"Well, now, Combee dear. Don't you think it's time to be mine?" She held the Pokeball out in her palm, and a red beam of light flashed towards Combee. "Well, there we go," The ball swayed twice, but a moment later, the Combee was indefinitely caught. She patted the Professor's shoulder. "Why, thank you for the move dearie. A Pokedex and some Pokeballs would be just perfect."

Gathering her bag, she handed it to the Professor. "I suppose I should be on my way almost directly. Take good care of that poor Gastly. Hopefully it lessens some of that mischief. It fought valiantly, until the end. Even if it did give you a bit of a . . .er, licking." Chuckling softly, Maggy waited for her bag. She had a long way to go in this region.

The professor's cheeks became a bright red when he realized that he might have insulted the old lady. He almost sighed in relief that she was happy at the compliment. He meant it, not to many trainers came through here and were able to defeat a ghost type pokemon. Granted it was probably very weak and she's received a move, but still. And the way her and the Combee seemed to work together. They'd be an awesome duo, and even though she was older she would definitely be a threat to other trainers. That is, if she even wanted to explore Elix as a trainer. Either way, he was convinced she'd do great. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it. And maybe someday our pokemon could have a little reuinion," he winked awkwardly.

He took her bag, still unsure of what to do with it. He simply walked back over to his desk and laid it on there. "All right, ma'am. Let's get you all set up and outta here." He opened a different drawer and pulled out a regular, red pokedex and laid it next to the bag on his desk. He got a circular ring with five shrunk pokeballs and put it on the desk as well. "I think that's everything. If you ever need something else just give me a shout."