Is this on? Hi.

[ The little bear gives a wave ]

I'm Noah. My trainer went somewhere and I have no one to talk to.

[ The other Pokemon are sat in their balls ]

Are you lonely too? I-

[ Noah looks up and stops talking when Claire comes back in, only from the bathroom ]

Hey, Noah, what are you doing?

[ Noah looks up and runs to her, handing the Gear to her ]

Hey, you found my Gear. Good bear.

[ She takes it with a smile, going to sit down and letting Noah sit on her when he tries ]

So I've nearly finished working here, time to finally move on to Goldenroad. There's a problem though - there's two roads and one is kind of blocked. Anyone know how to get rid of a tree?

[ She'd really rather take that one and cut down her long walk of Pokemon exploration and training that she doesn't want ]

This place definitely lives up to its name.

[ So Claire's reached the Dark Cave. Actually she's been there a couple of days searching high and low for that Teddiursa. As well as the small beam from her flashlight she also has her Vulpix out for more light... and Zubat fighting ]

I wasn't quite warned enough about the amount of bats in here.

[ And after being nearly hit by another low flying bat ]

Meredith, Ember!

[ That gets them away again... for a bit, anyway ]

I'd just like to find that bear so I can get out of here.

[ And she sighs. But wait, Meredith looks like she's seen something ]

Meredith, what is it?

[ And Meredith promptly runs in its direction ]

Hey, come back here.

[ Claire shuts the video off, chasing after Meredith and whatever she's found ]

[ ooc; replies will be icly delayed until Claire's un-busy ]

So I'm finally leaving Cherrygrove City.

[ If the camera happens to be a little jerky its because Claire's videoing and walking ]

I've probably made more money than I can ever do anything with but that wasn't why I worked. It was just nice having something to do, it felt like having a purpose, even though I'm supposed to be here to train my Pokemon, which I did... a little. It just still feels weird. I've been here three weeks and I don't feel any better about making them fight even if they want to... not that I really know if they want to or not since they can't talk. How do you even know what they want anyway?

[ She sighed. The longer she was here the longer it would feel like the time was dragging ]

The map says there's a cave near Violet City. [ Not that she liked caves ] I figure if I'm passing I may as well look, if there's anything to see. Is it worth it or should I walk by?

[ Today Claire's laid on the bed in the room of the hotel that she's been staying in. It's not bad, and the work's been pretty decent. She's slowly starting to get used to the place although she still doesn't have much of an idea of what to do ]

So I think I've seen pretty much all I can about this place, this city anyway. I've even started learning some of the history as... there's really not much else.

Working here isn't bad, at least I'm doing something and that something feels pretty useful. That and [ There's a small 'oof' as Claire's Vulpix jumps up on the the bed and ends up landing on her ]

Meredith! [ She sort of half turns around to try and pick it up, or at least try and push it to the side so that it's sat next to her instead of on her ]

That and feeling useful is good. It's better than being stuck here and there being absolutely nothing.

I'm getting used to the Pokemon, too, and seeing them everywhere. It was weird at first but now... it's not as shocking, anyway. I ended up catching that Psyduck, mostly just to stop it from following me everywhere. [ And she picks up the Gear, pointing it towards the floor ] Lyle, come and say hello.

Psy? [ But it does waddle over, its face ending up being pressed against the Gear ]

I've now just got to figure out what else to do. [ As she talks she turns the Gear back around and puts it back on the bed ] Quiet cities are nice but this is a little too quiet. I don't want to travel, at least not constantly and training and battling? Only if I have to. Something tells me that its not going to be as easy to travel after this city. [ Because that would just be too simple ] So that mostly rules out collecting the gym badges, unless I'm missing something about them.

And for anything else... Goldenrod City's on my list, maybe even to stay. It's big, which means there has to be something more there. Who knows?

[ Feel free to chip in with ideas, listeners ]

[ The video feed starts on Claire who is sat on a bench in Cherrygrove City near the water. She looks a little frustrated - calm but frustrated ]

So, I made it through the route, got to town and found a job. I mean, that's normal, right? It's not like there's too much else to do and normal sounds pretty good... as weird as that seems here.

And everything's all fine.

And then this duck starts following me around.

[ And she turns the Gear around to let the video show the Psyduck sat by her feet ]

It keeps following me everywhere, even to work. Is there anyway I can make it, I don't know, go away?

[ ooc; she's going to end up catching it so no swiping her Psyduck ]

[ Claire gave a look to the fox that was sat beside her, one that kept nudging her with its head and refusing to leave her alone. And that wasn’t all that was weird – none of stuff had been with her, which figured if this was the Company’s doing – though giving her a fox, a weird cell phone and a lot of other weird stuff?

She had no idea. Picking up the phone, and lifting the fox’s head off her legs again, Claire looked for the call button, hitting it before speaking ]

Whoever this is, and wherever you’ve brought me, it’s pretty stupid. I mean the world of Pokemon? Come on. I’m sixteen, I know what that is and it’s probably the worst line you could have come up with. And what kind of facility lets those they kidnap just run around?

[ So maybe this wasn’t the Company then and rather something else, although saying that the complex could have fences around it and were just giving the illusion of them being free. Although… that wasn’t the Company either, not when they dealt in small cells ]

Look… just don’t hurt them, okay? Even Lyle…

[ And you can hear a ‘shoo’ as Claire tries to get rid of the fox again, and then a small Vuul? Her shoo is promptly ignored ]

I’ll be your lab rat.

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