where in the hell are my cheetoes?

[ACEDIA FLORIANUS]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, padding: 10px; width: 500px, bTable][cs=2][style=background-color: #fff; width: 490px; padding: 5px;][style=font-family: arial; font-size: 23px; font-weight: bold; color: #494949; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: #f1f1f1 1px 1px 2px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: right;]I TRADE MY SOUL FOR A WISH,[/style][style=background-color: #494949; width: 490px; height: 25px;][style=font-family: arial; color: #fff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -1px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; text-shadow: #333333 1px 1px 2px; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 5px;]PENNIES AND DIMES FOR A KISS[/style][/style]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9.2px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; line-height: 12px;] [style=background-color: #494949; padding: 2px; height: 100px; width: 100px; opacity: 0.8; margin-right: 5px; float: left;][/style] There was a slowness to Pewter, a calm atmosphere that made the time seem to tick by so very slowly. Painfully slow. As the first stop as far as Gyms went, you would think everyday would be busy with trainers coming in for a challenge with the Gym Leader or to train with Gym Trainers, but no. Here Acedia sat, laying on a large boulder near the perimeter of the stadium, bored as all hell. There had only been one challenger that day. And it hadn't even meant anything. They hadn't challenged her, and the battle with the Gym Leader had been short and ultimately uneventful. She stared at the ceiling listlessly, stroking her Pichu's back as he slept on her stomach. He was the baby of her team after all, she expected him to sleep a lot. He was her weakest Pokemon, but she was sure that would remedy itself in time. She wouldn't work him too hard, but she had to catch him up soon. She had to help Pichu get stronger, so that she could get stronger simultaneously. Maybe then she would be able to quit this job and leave Pewter City. Maybe then she would be able to get Manectric to listen to her and fight at her side like he used to, before he evolved. Soon. She mused. Someday soon. But just like that, the slowness of the day was ended. "Hey, Ace look!" It was the voice of another Gym Trainer. That made her perk up instantly. "The hell?" She sat up and slid down from the boulder, startling Pichu but she held onto him so he didn't fall in his panic, though she felt a little guilty. He was squeaking nervously now, and she patted him to try and calm him down. "Someone just walked in!" Acedia blinked at the girl standing next to her, it was clear she wasn't the only one bored out her mind here. "Gym challenge or what?" She retorted, quickly returning Pichu to his Pokeball. She didn't want anyone challenging him yet, not here. "I dunno." The girl responded, making Acedia roll her eyes. Was this girl for real? "Why don't we find out before getting all excited, hm?" She snapped, not bothering to hide her annoyance. It wasn't even hot outside, but she was bored into a foul mood. Her co-worker nodded and ran off towards the entrance of the gym, leaving Acedia to sigh before following. Sure this was exciting, but it was also troublesome. This person was most likely here to challenge the Gym Leader, which wouldn't benefit her in any way, shape, or form. She leaned against the wall once exciting the large room where the stadium was, crossing her arms loosely as her eyes fell on the trainer. A boy, around her age by the looks of it. Odd, most trainers they got in here were ten. She rolled her eyes at how the others flocked to him, taunting him and challenging him. So desperate. .... Not that I blame them. She just had more pride than that. [/style]

[atrb=vAlign,top][atrb=style, width: 140px; padding: 5px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]TAGS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]measure[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]WORDS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]###[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]NOTES[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]notes here yo yo yo[/style]

[style=font-family: courier new; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase;]TEMPLATE BY JOHN OF OTE & BTN[/STYLE]

[ALEXANDER BARNUM]

It certainly was a day to be bored, there was no doubt about that. It seemed like all of his sources of entertainment were unavailable at the moment, or at least unappealing. His father was too busy with his "important business arrangement" to accept his company, for which he had to travel to some other part of the world he wouldn't disclose. Not only that, but he took all of his "employees" with him, the ones that he would sometimes challenge to a Pokemon battle for fun. So there was nobody to train with, and his father wasn't around to help. As he laid on his bed, head hanging off the side looking at the wall upside down, he tried to think about anything else he could do. He could go for a swim in the pool, but he didn't feel like getting wet. He could read, but he was the type of reader that had to finish a book before moving on to another, and the book he was currently reading had managed to upset him with an unwelcome plot twist.

Those were the major things he could do for entertainment, and they weren't appealing at all at that moment. Maybe it was just something about the air of the day itself, promoting a sluggish feel for the day. Who knew. He sighed and looked to his right at his desk which held atop it a decorative Pokeball holder, capable of holding and displaying at least twenty balls, but currently only boasting four. He slid the rest of the way off his bed and picked himself off of the floor and walked over to this display, and picked up the second ball from the left. He looked at it for a moment, then tossed it on the ground, releasing his first caught Pokemon from within, Haunter. He sat down on his bed, normally this time, and looked at at the intimidating looking yet much loved Pokemon, an inquisitive look on his face, almost like he didn't expect this to go anywhere.

"What do you think we should do today Haunter?" he asked. Of course he didn't get a direct response, Pokemon didn't speak the same language. Naturally what he got was an enthusiastic repeat of the Pokemon's own name with some body movement. Alex tilted his head to the side in thought as if actually having understood what the ghost type had meant. "You know what, your right. We shouldn't just sit around all day. If there's nothing to do here, we should go out and find something! But where should we go...?" His ending question was more for himself than Haunter, so he didn't reply, though his body language did speak for itself slightly. Alex leaned back and looked up slightly as he thought. Now that he thought about it, he did want to get to know the other trainers of Pewter city more. While fun to battle father's personal "trainers", it was getting old, especially facing the same old Pokemon they had.

He looked down to see that Haunter was getting a bit fidgety, and he knew what to do. They both wanted to get out of the house, that was for sure, and go see what the town had to offer. He had never really explored before which, now that he thought about it, was almost shameful to him. He got up off his bed and went over to the rest of his Pokeballs, rubbing his hand on Haunter's head along the way, saying "Good thinking Haunter!" With that, he gathered up the rest of his Pokeballs, and headed outside with Haunter in tow. He figured both of them would appreciate letting him free to walk with him on this occasion. He just hoped, in the back of his head, that he didn't really try to sneak up on anyone. He liked to prank people that way. He thought it was cute honestly, but most of his "victims" usually had a different opinion.

Since he went outside without even thinking about changing, he was still in casual clothes, rather than some attire that professed his upper class. And really, he didn't want anyone he would meet today to know right off the bat that he was some rich kid, he hated lasting first impressions after all, and the kind that would create certainly wasn't one he would want people to have of him. As far as anyone would be able to tell, he was just another kid passing through town. Some people might recognize him for various reasons, but it was unlikely he thought.

As he walked through town all he could really think about was how he should have done this earlier. It was amazing to see the outside world, but completely mind blowing to be a part of it. He was sheltered alright, but not because his family was particularly protective. Rather, he just never had the urge to go outside like he did today, and he could tell now that he was crazy for that. Everything was fascinating to him, and he just wanted to learn more about all of it. But that would have to wait, first thing first. He originally came out here with the idea of seeing what the other trainers were like, and the best place to do that was to finish the gym. And so his destination was set, and after asking only a few questions from passerby's, who were actually very helpful to point him in the right direction (probably because they thought he was a trainer from another region seeking a badge), he found himself standing before the gym.

He peeked his head inside tentatively as if to smooth his way into the building, but after taking only one complete step into the gym was he suddenly surrounded by trainers of the gym, like birds to bread. Naturally, with his sheltered nature, he was completely surprised and didn't really know what to do. They were all challenging and taunting him to a battle, but they were all speaking at the same time so he wasn't really sure exactly of what any one of them were actually saying. He eventually just held his hands up, trying to tell them that he wasn't here for a battle, and that he was just exploring, but these words never came out as such. "No..." "You see,-" "I'm not-" "Could you please-" was all he could manage to get off, and they weren't giving him any more room at all.

In all this confusion he hadn't noticed how his Haunter wasn't by his side anymore, and in fact was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until a few moments into this mess that he looked to his side for some support from Haunter, but saw that he wasn't there. He immediately forgot all about everyone in front of him, and was looking around somewhat frantically before his eyes fell upon a girl closer to the back of the room. She was by herself, probably the only trainer in the gym, besides the leader, that wasn't currently in his face. His eyes widened, not so much at the site of her, but rather the site of Haunter coming through the wall behind her with that malevolent look his gets on his face before scaring someone. He immediately pushed through the crowd and ran over to her, yelling "Woah woah woah! Haunter don't!" Despite the fact that he was now only feet away from her, it was obvious he was looking past her at Haunter who was now actually only inches away from her. It was most likely that she would look behind herself and see him now, but he couldn't always predict what people would do.

[ACEDIA FLORIANUS]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, padding: 10px; width: 500px, bTable][cs=2][style=background-color: #fff; width: 490px; padding: 5px;][style=font-family: arial; font-size: 23px; font-weight: bold; color: #494949; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: #f1f1f1 1px 1px 2px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: right;]I TRADE MY SOUL FOR A WISH,[/style][style=background-color: #494949; width: 490px; height: 25px;][style=font-family: arial; color: #fff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -1px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; text-shadow: #333333 1px 1px 2px; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 5px;]PENNIES AND DIMES FOR A KISS[/style][/style]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9.2px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; line-height: 12px;] [style=background-color: #494949; padding: 2px; height: 100px; width: 100px; opacity: 0.8; margin-right: 5px; float: left;][/style] Acedia observed the whole thing from the comforts of her wall. She scoffed and rolled her eyes at the stranger, he was clearly trying to protest but just as clearly lacked much of a backbone. He allowed himself to be drowned out too easily. People like that were roped into battles, she doubted he was going to make an exception of himself. She also doubted this was going to prove to be too interesting. So she allowed her gaze to drift away from the scene, bored. But that was a mistake, and she would soon realize it. She blinked when she heard his outburst, it was an odd one. First and foremost that he had made one at all, Acedia had him pegged as quiet; but also that he had shouted something about a Haunter. And was practically racing towards her. Haunter? She looked at his eyes, and realized that he wasn't looking at her. But...there was only a wall behind her...right? Acedia lifted off the wall and turned around, not quickly but not exactly slow either. Then she saw it, the Haunter the boy was talking about. Or rather, to now that she realized it. Acedia stumbled backward, but she didn't even get the chance to shriek out of surprise. She didn't get much of a chance to react before one of the Pokeballs on her belt twitched and forced open, an all too familiar four-legged yellow figure now standing before her. With what seemed to be a battlecry, Acedia's Jolteon used Thunderbolt on the boy's Haunter. Acedia was now completely stunned. Jolteon's body was still sparking from the attack, and he was growling in warning at the ghost type Pokemon before her, but panic surged through her. Jolteon had acted without a command, and ever since Manectric, Acedia could not and would not allow that to happen. "Jolteon!" She said loudly, sharply, clearly beginning to scold him. He looked back to her, surprised, clearly not understanding what he had done wrong. "You can't just...pop out like that whenever the hell you feel like it and attack someone's Pokemon! Are you nuts?!" Okay, there was no way Jolteon didn't detect the panic behind her actions and the source of it -- they had grown up together after all. He seemed to sigh and shake his head at her, and she knew right away: he was only trying to protect her. Acedia herself sighed, bending to give Jolteon a few pats on the head to let him know she understood but was still rather miffed. She then turned to the stranger who stumbled into the Gym and completely and utterly obliterated the calm atmosphere. Be careful what you wish for right? "Is your Haunter okay?" She asked, fully prepared to toss him a potion or revive or whatever else he might need. This was partially her fault after all. [/style]

[atrb=vAlign,top][atrb=style, width: 140px; padding: 5px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]TAGS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]measure[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]WORDS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]###[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]NOTES[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]notes here yo yo yo[/style]

[style=font-family: courier new; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase;]TEMPLATE BY JOHN OF OTE & BTN[/STYLE]

[ALEXANDER BARNUM]

His heart sank when the girl whipped to turn around, looking startled already. He knew she was probably about to get frightened anyway, despite his trying to stop Haunter. Despite his expectations though, something completely different happened. A Pokeball she had equipped released itself and out popped a Jolteon right into the fray of everything. It took him only a moment to make the connection between Jolteon and the gym. An electric type gym, how interesting. It was pretty sad to admit that he didn't really know the gym type despite living here his whole life, but obviously it didn't take him long to figure out. As a trainer she probably had plenty of these types, as did just about everyone else here as well. It was an interesting concept to him to be strict on a type of pokemon, as he actually hadn't gone up against anyone that was like that. Sure he himself was technically mostly equipped with Ghost type pokemon, but he also had a psychic and primarily ice type as well.

All of this was a sort of background thought as he looked at Jolteon, basically watching in slow motion the events that would unfold next. Swiftly upon breaking from its ball, the Pokemon let off a well aimed thunderbolt, which smacked right into Haunter who still wasn't even completely out of the wall yet. He honestly couldn't help but be impressed really, at how quickly the Pokemon reacted, and how defensive. It was almost poetic really, he couldn't help but notice, a trainer's Pokemon coming to her rescue. It had undertones of a truly wonderful bond. Unfortunately these sentiments were quickly banished as he watched his Haunter become electrified, wobble in the air a bit, and fall to the ground in an almost comic fashion. Without thinking about anything else Alex rushed over to where his Pokemon now lay on the ground.

Everything else around him faded out, and he didn't even hear the lecture the girl was giving to her Jolteon at the same time as he was giving his to Haunter. "Are you okay Haunter? I told you not to sneak up on people, and this is why. I can't say you don't deserve this..." The Haunter hadn't fainted, and really he wasn't hurt that much. In addition to being a little prankster he also had a somewhat over dramatic personality. If he couldn't come off as funny from scaring the poor girl, he could dramatize being smited down for sure. So he was just laying there, for show, pretending to be fainted, despite Alex's constant shakes at him, and prodding him to stop acting. Eventually he just sat back with a sigh, unsure of what to do now. In truth he had forgotten where he even was at the moment.

Luckily it didn't take him long to be reminded, as the girl's voice pierced his obliviousness fog from above, and he looked up at her in response to her question. It was the first time he had honestly gotten a chance to get a good look at her, so at first he just stared. Woah, she was pretty, surprising he hadn't noticed that earlier. Suddenly he felt somewhat shameful for this big scene he caused, but luckily he didn't let it show and quickly recovered from his moment of paralyzation, and looked back down at Haunter before responding. "Uh, yeah. He's a bit of an actor really..." As if on que, Haunter suddenly began cough-laughing from the ground, repeating his name a few times, obviously amused, while picking himself up and slowly floating at their eye level.

"There, you see? Nothin to worry about. He's just a drama queen is all." he said, getting off the ground to look at her face to face. "Sorry about all of that by the way, he's a bit of a prankster, though I've been trying to get him to stop scaring people like that. By the way, my name is Alex, nice to meet you!" He held out a hand for a handshake while looking at her directly in the eyes with a confident, but also warm and friendly look. It was clear, maybe not to the girl herself just yet, but definitely to Haunter and himself, that he was quite interested in this girl. He couldn't quite place why, but he wanted to get to know her better. Maybe it was because she was the only one who didn't rush his face earlier, which added some depth to her character that the other people here didn't seem to have. Whatever the case was, he hoped she would at least give her name in return.

[ACEDIA FLORIANUS]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, padding: 10px; width: 500px, bTable][cs=2][style=background-color: #fff; width: 490px; padding: 5px;][style=font-family: arial; font-size: 23px; font-weight: bold; color: #494949; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: #f1f1f1 1px 1px 2px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: right;]I TRADE MY SOUL FOR A WISH,[/style][style=background-color: #494949; width: 490px; height: 25px;][style=font-family: arial; color: #fff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -1px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; text-shadow: #333333 1px 1px 2px; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 5px;]PENNIES AND DIMES FOR A KISS[/style][/style]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9.2px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; line-height: 12px;] [style=background-color: #494949; padding: 2px; height: 100px; width: 100px; opacity: 0.8; margin-right: 5px; float: left;][/style] She didn't quite get what the boy meant when he said his Haunter was an actor, but that only lasted for a split second. In the next moment, the ghost was laughing in between coughs. Acedia couldn't help chuckling softly and shaking her head at the sight, a singed Haunter, laughing at some joke only it could possibly understand. It was pretty funny sight to see. "Sometimes, I wish Jolteon had a sense of humor." She commented. She gently nudged her partner with her knee, flashing him a smile. Jolteon only didn't have a sense of humor because Acedia herself could be so reckless. Someone had to watch out for her, and that job fell squarely onto Jolteon and Charizard's shoulders. Considering she didn't live in the same house as her partners anymore, having moved out when she got her job at the Gym. Her previous chuckles upgraded to a soft laugh when Haunter floated back up. "Well, I guess your losing your touch there Jolteon." She teased, looking down at the electric Pokemon, who responding but turning away from her and snorting as though insulted. But Acedia didn't have to see his face to see his smirk. She didn't need to speak Pokemon to know that Jolteon would be protesting that he had held back. She shook her head at him, amused, before turning back to the boy. Acedia met the boy's gaze with her own confident and pleased one, more awake now that the dreariness of the day was officially over. She shook her head when he apologized, but held her tongue, since he was still talking. She was more than pleased that he seemed to have at least some manners, and she didn't really care if they battled or not at this point. It was nice just to talk to someone new. Although she wondered where he was from, since she didn't recognize him as a local. "Acedia." She responded, slipping her hand into his for the handshake. "But my friends call me Ace. And it wasn't any problem, it was getting boring around here anyway." She said, laughing a bit as she finished, letting her hand drop to her side once more. No need to drag out the handshake, although somewhere in the recesses of her mind she noted the pleasing texture of his palm. He was fairly easy on the eyes too, not that she really consciously noted it. "I haven't seen you around Pewter before. Are you a traveler?" She asked, once more lacking her a sense of boundaries. It really wasn't any of her business, but she lacked the capacity to bite her tongue when it came to her curiosity. By now, the crowd that had formed was beginning to dissipate. They were moving on to other things, battling amongst themselves or chit-chatting. Even the girl who had originally alerted Acedia to Alex's presence -- who had lingered the longest -- eventually left to have a friendly battle with another Gym Trainer. Should they be battling when a trainer could waltz in at any moment? Probably not. But, then again, rarely ever did trainers want to battle the Gym Trainers unless they had already lost to Gym Leader or recognized that they needed training. But today, traffic was slow. So nobody really cared. [/style]

[atrb=vAlign,top][atrb=style, width: 140px; padding: 5px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]TAGS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]measure[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]WORDS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]###[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]NOTES[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]notes here yo yo yo[/style]

[style=font-family: courier new; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase;]TEMPLATE BY JOHN OF OTE & BTN[/STYLE]

[ALEXANDER BARNUM]

In most normal circumstances, the ever vigilant Alex would have noticed the attitude the girl's Jolteon put off in response to her chidings, and found it somewhat amusing in a cute way. But this most certainly was not a normal circumstance, as most if not all of his focus was centered directly around this girl, looking her right in the eye while the rest of the world faded away. It wasn't some form of romantic blossom taking him over though, so much as it was an increasing interest. After all, this was basically the first human interaction he had had with someone outside of his house. His perception to the world around him was dropped in favor of the pursuit of a newfound possibility: friendship. Indeed they had just met, but he had a good feeling about this girl. One step at a time though, before he got ahead of himself, he did need to know her name. And from there, who knew. This conversation could end there, or it could extend much further.

He was just a little bit ashamed of how relieved he was when the girl returned his handshake, and he listened closely at the words that came from her mouth next, for they contained her name. Acedia...very unique, elegant even. He liked it, and found himself repeating it over in his head a few times. Ace was an interesting nickname, one he took note of. It was a sort of...boyish nickname though, despite the way it stemmed from her actual name. He wondered why that was, if it meant something. He found himself looking her over a second time, more in depth this time though. He took into note her attire and her stance. Hmm, it definitely was different, or at least, what he assumed to be different with what little knowledge he actually had of how people dress and whatnot. Yet it was charming, as in it seemed to appeal to her nature. She definitely wasn't a soft girly girl, that was obvious, and for some reason he really appreciated that.

So she had commented on the way it was boring around there, and he couldn't help but be slightly surprised. One, because he found it somewhat hard to believe that it could get boring as a gym trainer, always being challenged to battles and whatnot. But then...maybe that meant traffic was slow that day. Two, he was feeling the exact same way himself back at home, so really he found it more ironic than surprising. He laughed when she did, and commented, "Yeah, it has been a pretty boring day huh? Weird almost." Their hands dropped simultaneously, and he couldn't help but notice how cold the air made his had feel for a few moments after. Fortunately he didn't have to think about that very long though because without missing a beat she was speaking again, taking his attention effortlessly. She asked if he was a traveler, a question he honestly should have seen coming.

He made a somewhat nervous smile, and found himself rubbing the back of his head while averting her gaze slightly. He didn't know why this was so embarrassing, but he just couldn't help but feel that way. Maybe it was just because despite having been a local himself all his life, nobody in the city really knew him, something you can't really be proud of. "Well, no.." he started somewhat timidly, making his shame somewhat obvious. "I'm actually a Barnum. I live in that big house and well...haven't really come out into the town before..." after finally admitting it, he looked back up at her, flashing his nervous smile again. He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he was expecting, but he was sure she would know what he was talking about. Being the richest citizens of Pewter, the Barnum family was well known throughout the city. That is, they know that the Barnum were rich, but aside from Alex's father, didn't know much else.

Meanwhile, during this whole engagement, Haunter had grown bored with his Master's obvious infatuation with Ace, and decided to entertain himself. He floated down to the Jolteon that still had it's back turned to Ace, and nudged it slightly. In a way he was sort of apologizing himself, but also just saying hi. "Haaaaaunter!" he said enthusiastically after getting the Pokemon's attention. He was still somewhat charred from the thunderbolt attack, but the grin on his face made it obvious that he didn't really mind.

[ACEDIA FLORIANUS]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, padding: 10px; width: 500px, bTable][cs=2][style=background-color: #fff; width: 490px; padding: 5px;][style=font-family: arial; font-size: 23px; font-weight: bold; color: #494949; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: #f1f1f1 1px 1px 2px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: right;]I TRADE MY SOUL FOR A WISH,[/style][style=background-color: #494949; width: 490px; height: 25px;][style=font-family: arial; color: #fff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -1px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; text-shadow: #333333 1px 1px 2px; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 5px;]PENNIES AND DIMES FOR A KISS[/style][/style]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9.2px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; line-height: 12px;] [style=background-color: #494949; padding: 2px; height: 100px; width: 100px; opacity: 0.8; margin-right: 5px; float: left;][/style] She smiled when he agreed with her about the day, and even went one step further by reflecting her thoughts from mere moments before. They seemed to have quite a bit in common, which even she recignized as a good start. Enemies were not the type of connections she liked making. "I think its the city." She said, so far unable to stop smiling. She was certain Alex would understand where she was coming from, based on the conversation so far. "It just has a lazy atmosphere some days." Acedia knew she probably didn't have to go into that, but she did anyway. At that point she didn't know if Alex was a local or not, but she soon had that question answered. He wasn't just a local - which helped her relax a bit - but he was a member of one of the wealthiest families in Pewter. She raised a brow at him when he said this, shocked really that someone could stand to live like that until now. But he was already embarrassed admitting this to her, and she didn't want to make it worse. "Personally I have no idea how you've managed to keep that up until now." She admitted, though her tone was curious and almost one of admiration. For surely he needed a great deal of patience to accept such a lifestyle, she never could. But if there was one thing she wasn't doing it was teasing him for it. "Well, welcome to society Alex!" She said, playfully teasing him about it. Again, boundaries flying clear over her head. She hadn't thought she might insult him, because she wasn't trying to. "You come here for a battle or just to explore?" She asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, simple and honestly curious. She didn't pry and ask him why now, he had already expressed that he had been bored so that question was already answered in her mind. It was good enough for her, probably because she too had been bored. Personally, she doubted he came here looking for a fight. This being his first time out here, he was probably curious more than anything else. Though it was clear his Haunter was well raised, and she'd be more than happy to oblige him if that was what he wanted. You could tell a lot about someone based on their battle-style. Jolteon was surprised by the nudge, it hadn't come from his trainer. Taken off guard, his coat sparked in warning while he turned, but he relaxed when he saw it was just the other human's Haunter. "Jolt!" He barked in greeting, relaxing the sparks on his body. The Jolteon sniffed Haunter and frowned, barking his name again to apologize for the surprise attack. Jolteon bowed his head and barked a few more times, explaining that he was only trying to protect Acedia, and hadn't meant to cause any permanent damage. Which was the honest truth, he tended to get more than a little over-protective when it came to his partner and childhood friend, who wouldn't? [/style]

[atrb=vAlign,top][atrb=style, width: 140px; padding: 5px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]TAGS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]measure[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]WORDS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]###[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]NOTES[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]notes here yo yo yo[/style]

[style=font-family: courier new; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase;]TEMPLATE BY JOHN OF OTE & BTN[/STYLE]

[ALEXANDER BARNUM]

A lazy atmosphere...To Alex, that was an interesting concept. He got the impression that she expected him to understand exactly what she meant by that, and she was right in a way. Despite the fact that this was the first real time he had ever gotten into the thick of the city and therefor been able to judge such a characteristic, he could already feel that her words were true. Just from touring that afternoon, he actually did get that same impression, just wasn't able to put it in as many words. It was a rather lazy city, but in a good way. It had a slow going, friendly feel to it, the kind that made you comfortable despite possibly being bored. A kind of stop and smell the roses feeling. Hearing from her mouth the thoughts he couldn't exactly organize himself had him agreeing with her whole heartedly, though all he could really do to express this was nod, because she went ahead and asked if he was a local or not.

Her response to his admission of being a complete and total rich kid shut in only had him feeling all the more embarrassed. At first all he could do was chuckle in response, trying to get past himself to make a more sophisticated return. Her response wasn't mean, in fact it was a bit more friendly than he possibly could have expected. Despite the typically astonished vocabulary, the tone of her voice and the facial expressions she made it obvious that she was just more curious than perplexed, maybe even a hint of admiration. So the embarrassment he felt was unavoidable simply due to the nature of the conversation, but he was quickly able to get over it due to the actually toothless hostility that came with it. In truth, by the time he was able to look back up at her face to see her grin, he couldn't help but feel glad that she now knew.

And soon following that grin of hers was a little jest, to which he could only offer up an actual laugh, rather than a nervous chuckle. Still though, perhaps due to a need of personal justification, or maybe because her previous statement was in a way also a question, he felt the need to explain himself on the matter. "Heh, I actually don't know either. About thirty minutes ago, still tucked away in my room, I probably could have answered you. But now that I've finally been out, seen this town and its charm, I don't even understand what took me so long. I'm not proud of it either, especially because it stopped me from meeting you for so long." That last statement was a horrible fail of an attempt to flirt, which in itself was only partially intentional, and he found himself giving off a nervous laugh again in attempt to cover it up. In a further attempt to recover, he added, "And thank you for the heartwarming welcome!" Eh, that didn't really help his case. Right about now he was seriously starting to wonder why he could not talk normally to this girl.

Luckily he got the chance to pretend that nothing he said actually meant anything, and hope that she hadn't gotten some kind of unwanted impression. She asked him if he wanted to battle, and that was an intriguing question. It brought him back to the initial inspiration that led him to leave his house. He wanted to gauge the other trainers around town, see how they worked, what kind of pokemon they had. Well he had already answered one question, in a way. The gym was electric type, which meant most to all of their Pokemon would be as such. But that didn't mean there wasn't more information to derive from engaging in actual battle. While he thought about this, he took on an appropriate stance, placing one hand on his chin while he thought. When he responded, he held the same stance, but did look back at her. "Well, a bit of both really. I thought I might see what the trainers here in town were like, you know, what kind of Pokemon they had. But that quickly got overpowered by the compulsion to just explore, heheh. Uhm...I guess we could battle if you wanted, though I'm not exactly looking for a badge or anything. Not yet at least." He was so proud of himself, making a normal response with no undertones. And he also gave the option of battling to her. Really he could go either way, so he was glad to give the decision to her. Though as a trainer, he couldn't help but expect that she would go for it.

Haunter flinched just the slightest bit when Jolteon swiftly jumped around, sparking a little bit, in a sort of comic way. He was glad at the returned greeting though, and his grin turned into a rather big smile. That smile fell into a look of curiosity as the Jolteon sniffed him, watching what he did. He "tilted" his floating head to the side a bit too as he tried to apologize for the attack, and explain that he was just protecting Ace. In response, all he could do was flash another smile and laugh his name a few times, basically in a 'S'alright' kind of fashion. Haunter was obviously pretty easygoing, and really just saw the whole situation as more funny than anything. In other words, the apology was accepted, and the issue practically forgotten.

[ACEDIA FLORIANUS]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, padding: 10px; width: 500px, bTable][cs=2][style=background-color: #fff; width: 490px; padding: 5px;][style=font-family: arial; font-size: 23px; font-weight: bold; color: #494949; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: #f1f1f1 1px 1px 2px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: right;]I TRADE MY SOUL FOR A WISH,[/style][style=background-color: #494949; width: 490px; height: 25px;][style=font-family: arial; color: #fff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -1px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; text-shadow: #333333 1px 1px 2px; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 5px;]PENNIES AND DIMES FOR A KISS[/style][/style]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9.2px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; line-height: 12px;] [style=background-color: #494949; padding: 2px; height: 100px; width: 100px; opacity: 0.8; margin-right: 5px; float: left;][/style] His embarrassment hadn't escaped her, and she wondered why she had only managed to worsen it. Acedia had been aiming to be friendly, not tease. Not maliciously anyway. But, she figured that it was just some initial reaction of some sort. He seemed fine after she teased him a bit, so hoplefully that had helped. The evolution of his nervous chuckle to a full-blown laugh was noted, and she was relieved. It seemed she hadn't lost the ability to do things right. Yet anyway. She couldn't help a soft laugh at his words, up until the end. Well, that was odd. Acedia was oblivious, but not that oblivious! And his poor attempt to cover up the flirtatious comment only made it more obvious. Still, she had to play it cool. No need to make this worse. Although she wished she'd stop blushing. It couldn't be helped that she blushed a little, she only hoped she could help along the recovery effort here instead of make this any worse for the both of them. "Haha, well I guess I could say the same. I mean, this place was pretty dull until you showed up." What in the...was that supposed to be a recovery?! She might as well have flirting back! Wait, was she? Why didn't anything make sense anymore?! "Your welcome!" She said to his thank you. Perhaps that was a little too excited. But she couldn't help it! God that was embarrassing! They were back to nervous laughs, but thankfully they both had the opportunity to move on and pretend it didn't happen. Well, she'd probably have to tell her friend Lilly, who had originally alerted Acedia to Alex's presence, all about this exchange. But for now, things seemed to drift into an area she could handle quite well. Battling. Her grin turned into an expectant smirk when he took on a thoughtful pose, and she loosely crossed her arms, leaning out on one hip. "We could do both? There's really just this room and then the room withe the stadium." She explained. In essence: shortest tour ever. "Since you've never really been out in the town before, I could show you around there if you'd like." She offered, but promptly held up a finger, as if to show there was one condition. Her grin returned, she was a trainer after all. A trainer with an itch. "After our battle." She said, lowering her hand again. "And don't worry about any badge, I'm no Leader. And I'm glad you didn't come here for a badge." She said, turning and gesturing for him to follow. "That means I get you all to myself." Jolteon sighed with relief when Haunter indicated everything was alright. Acedia had clearly taken a likingnto Haunter's human, and Jolteon didn't want to spend the whole time they were together fighting with the floating head. Well, unless it was a battle. Jolteon did enjoy those. And then, as if he had willed it, he heard that word falling from Acedia's mouth. The yellow Pokemon looked up at the humans, then back at Haunter with a grin. He barked his name at Haunter, asking if he would like to battle. Jolteon was excited for this opportunity, he always used it to tell a lot about people. He wouldn't just be testing Haunter, but Alex as well. Through his bond with Haunter. And that was a battle Jolteon wanted to himself. He didn't want Emolga or Charizard taking this chance from him. No, if anyone was going to battle Haunter, it would be him. He trotted after Acedia, sitting at one end of the stadium and looking at the humans with a meaningful stare, head held high. He wanted them ti know his position on this matter, and Haunter too. [/style]

[atrb=vAlign,top][atrb=style, width: 140px; padding: 5px; background-color: #fff;][style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]TAGS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]measure[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]WORDS[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]###[/style] [style=font-family: arial; color: #494949; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: -2px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 2px solid #494949; font-weight: bold;]NOTES[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: #494949; text-align: justify; margin-left: 10px;]notes here yo yo yo[/style]

[style=font-family: courier new; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase;]TEMPLATE BY JOHN OF OTE & BTN[/STYLE]

[ALEXANDER BARNUM]

What an awkward moment this was turning into. Because his obvious flirt fail was obvious, he noticed that both of them were laughing nervously. Man, he probably put her off, made her feel uncomfortable, creeped her out. Despite the nervous laugh and the somewhat-smile that came along with it was apparent, his self esteem had officially smacked rock bottom. All he wanted to do was shrink away and hide in a hole, covering his shame. She probably wanted nothing more than to just zip away from him and forgot he existed, and when her trainer friends asked who he was she'd just pretend she had no idea what they were talking about. Ah, as soon as they were done laughing he would appease her by getting the hell out and never venturing outside of his house again. Such a sad, awkward boy he was. Wait a second. Hadn't she said something? They were laughing nervously together, because she was laughing nervously, because she said something just as awkward as he did, right? Well what did she say? Suddenly in his head the events of the last few seconds played over in his head, and he re-heard the words that escaped him in his embarrassment earlier.

Woah woah woah, had she flirted back? In this strange moment of suspended animation, he had plenty of time to replay those words in his head. Had she? Or was he just reading too much into it? He wasn't sure, but the over excitement in her welcome was extremely obvious, and it couldn't help but surge him with confidence and joy, but most importantly relief. Wait, what was this. His vision zoomed into her cheeks where he saw....Oh my, she was blushing! He made her blush! Holy crap! Maybe he wasn't such a socially awkward turtle as he thought, because he got her to blush. Heheh, so that's why she was laughing nervously with him. Talk about a score. Now he couldn't help but feel like a bigshot, on top of the world.

But this exhilaration was short lived, firstly because it was all in his head, and secondly because they both moved on at the same time as if nothing abnormal had happened, and she asked him if he wanted to battle. His answer took some consideration, but he was confident in it. Considering his reasons for being outside in the first place, he didn't care if they did or didn't. So it was after giving his reply that he awaited a decision from her, and he wasn't all surprised at how quickly she made her decision. In fact, it was like she was hopefully waiting for him to say exactly what he did, because her reaction was practically instantaneous. It was now that he noticed her devilish smirk, and he could only wonder what kind of trouble he had gotten himself into.

Oh she made an excellent verbal case that they could "do both", you know, have her show him around town, and that sounded nice. But he could tell she was itching to get her fight on, probably see what kind of man he was in the ring. But maybe he was wrong, maybe she was just going to show him around. He opened his mouth to agree and- Nope. There was her finger, shutting him up before he could even object. And there it was, "After our battle.", of course. So it was that he just continued to look up at her, because he got the feeling she had more to say, and he was right. Well, at least that was comforting. A little friendly match with just her would be okay he thought. Once he actually thought about it, he realized he was just nervous. This was his first fight outside of his house, where he was going up against someone who's pokemon he didn't know at all, didn't know what to expect. After all, aside from her Jolteon, he had no idea what she had. But then again, she didn't know what he had. Although she seemed pretty excited to fight, which meant that the mystery probably intrigued more than intimidated her. He just had to take a deep breath and follow after her.

Then of course she went ahead and said something that he wasn't sure made him feel better, or just made him nervous all over again. Right after he started to follow after her, she threw something over her shoulder at him that made him smirk himself, but behind a slight blush of his own. "All to myself" she said, well that was inspiring. He tried not to read too much into that statement, or think about it much at all really, as it would only get his mind wandering. Oh man, yeah, he needed to focus on what was happening right now. Follow after her, shes showing us to the room where they can battle. Deep breaths, deep breaths, stay cool. Luckily for him he was able to somehow pull off a nonchalant "Sounds good." as he went after her, happy she couldn't see his face as it was still recovering.

As the two of them were having their own little conversation, Haunter couldn't help but overhear the possibility of a battle. Ooh, that sounded fun, a chance to hit back! Not that he wanted to hurt Jolteon or anything, just that they could have a sporting go on equal playing fields. Not a "I sneak up on your human and you fry me with lightning" kinda thing. Jolteon obviously heard it too, and was quite excited, because he wasted no time in barking at him, practically offering a challenge himself. Well, his confident and eager look he flashed back at him was all the response he needed to give, and he anxiously awaited for the two of them to decide if they were actually going to battle. It wasn't long before they were all heading in the direction of what he assumed was an official battling stadium. Exciting, this should be fun. Oh but wait a minute...As they were all walking, he floated up to Alex's face and nudged him with one of his hands. When Alex turned to face him, Haunter made a confused face upon seeing the stupid look on Alex's. What was that about? Ah it didn't matter, he wiped it off pretty quick once he saw that Haunter needed something.

"What is it Haunter?" he asked innocently, to which Haunter only returned an unamused look. He made gestures with his eyes up towards the top of his head, which was still singed from the little shock he got earlier. It didn't take Alex long to realize what he was trying to say, fortunately. "Oh, right! Sorry Haunter, here, have a potion." Ah, that was the stuff. Alex promptly tossed him a potion so give him some strength back, so that he could be at 100% against Jolteon. It wouldn't have been very fair if they went up against each other when he had a handicap now would it? So now he was content, and eagerly floated alongside his master as they approached the stadium.