(Reboot) Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass

Feeling the pokegear vibrate on her wrist, Catia smiles awkwardly at Kar. "Sorry hold on." She told the fellow Ascended politely before checking it. After reading Decoda's message, she frowns before deciding to ignore his message. If he was really so worried about her than he could come and find her himself. She returns her attention to Kar calmly. "Sorry about that. It was nothing." She tells him, ready to continue her conversation with him.

Decoda finds Catia backstage talking to Kar.

(OOC: Sorry about that. I was waiting for Luna to respond first. ^^

(OOC: It's cool!  ^_^  Didn't mean to pressure anybody!  ><)

Decoda and Mudkip both saw Catia from where they stood at the other end of the stage.  The red head had no idea what the think; if she was here the whole time, why couldn't she have simply told him where she was going?  Who she was with after his rehearsal?  The more he thought about it the more he was becoming frustrated, and Mudkip could see that.  Just then, little blue Pokemon squirted Decoda with a Water Gun directly in his face.

"What did you do that for?!"

"Kip, kip, Mudkip!"

"I wasn't getting mad!  No way!  You're--" he cut himself off as he looked into the beady black eyes of the creature on his shoulder.  He couldn't get all worked up now, he was just a little overexcited from the performance coming up and trying to make sure everyone was okay.  He didn't mean to cause trouble, and Mudkip knew this about him.  He sighed and wiped off his face with the edge of his his jacket.

"Alright.  I'll chill out.  Thanks, Mudkip," he said, his tone much more relaxed than before.  He finished his stroll over to Catia and Kar, a light smile decorated his face.

"Hey, Catia.  I'm glad you're safe, first and foremost!  Who's your friend?" he asked, actually curious to know who this guy was.  He had to tilt his head a little and lean his neck in a little bit, but he could have sworn that his eye pupils were strangely shaped... To avoid looking like a weirdo, thought it might have been too late, he then asked, "I-I'm just inspecting your instrument there, pal.  Acoustic is more your thing?"

Catia huffs at Decoda's question and glares at him, putting her hands on her hips. "I could ask you the same question! Not that it matters who I talk to. I can take care of myself." She retorted, her amber eyes shining with emotion. If Decoda looked close enough, he could not only compare their odd shape to Kar's but he could detect her jealousy. It wasn't like she was trying to hide it after all.

He retracted his stance as if her words had pushed him physically.  Mudkip toppled off Decoda's shoulder as he did so, and landed behind him, no longer able to control his trainer returning frustration.

"WHAT?!"

He swung forward, his hands crumpling into fists, completely bewildered that she would act this way to his simple "whereabouts" message.  Now that he was closer, though, he could easily compare their eyes, but refused to speak of it. That was Kar's problem, and he didn't want to get going on another stranger's problems right now. He did, however, pick up her jealously. It honestly surprised him, but then it all made sense the more he thought about it. He never expected to get into any serious romances on this journey, not yet in the very least! Attraction was one thing, but...

"Were - were you jealous?!  Ohof Marely!?  Catia, please!" he said with a more jovial tone, still carrying his half serious expression.  "I barely know her, and I barely know you!  We've only been a team for two days, and--"

He stopped, knowing in the back of his mind that this wasn't going to end well if he continued on yelling.  She was clearly emotionally torn, so it wasn't best to encourage that.  Instead, he picked himself back up to a normal stance and straightened out his hair, jacket and corrected his expression to something more serious.

"You're a girl of your own right and you do what you want.  That's fine with me.  Like what and who you like, but don't rush me.  I only wanted to be friends.  See you and your blessed guy friend at the show."

He turned around and walked away swiftly, as Mudkip got up and followed him to the other side of the stage.  They then disappeared behind the curtains, leaving Kar and Catia to themselves once more.

Kar watched this exchange, a bit shocked. They both seemed to be overreacting to something... but he felt best to stay out of it. When Decoda marched away, he turned to Catia.

"This was a bit... dramatic," he started, seeing the look on Catia's face. "You actually like that guy? He seems a bit... i don't know, snappy?"




As Decoda stomped along, he passed a room whit a door slightly open. He heard a violin playing, then upbeat music start. The violin paused, then started up again. If he chose to peek in, he would see Marley twirling about the room, passionately playing her violin.

(HERE is what she's playing)



Zoe lead Cerise through the busy streets, pointing out all the interesting stuff as they made their way to Silph Co. She got a couple of cotton candies and handed one to him for him and Chespin to share, while she shared hers with her Skitty. 

"Alright, here we are~ I'll try getting us a short tour!"

"Haha, alright! I'll be waiting here!" Cerise says with a smile as he takes a seat on the curb, setting down the egg by his side as he took a few nibbles of his cotton candy. A Pokeball on his belt wiggled and Cerise looked down as Chespin burst from its Pokeball and sniffed the air several times. Spinning around to face Cerise, the hedgehog dove into his lap, eyes gazing at the trainer expectantly.

"You really eat a lot, bud..." Cerise says with a smirk as he hands over the cotton candy to his friend, his attention now on the vibrating PokeGear once again. Reading over Decoda's message, Cerise furrowed his brows a bit. Rotor had been in the Game Corner? Had it been there when Entei and the others attacked? Did it help them plan their assault?

As Chespin eats the remaining cotton candy in a single gulp, Cerise grips his PokeGear tightly. If Decoda's was in danger because of this new 'avatar'... No, he shouldn't worry. Decoda was a highly skilled trainer, after all! He wouldn't get taken down like that!! His doubts quelled, he looks around a bit as Chespin's attention is drawn to the Pawniard egg.

The blue Pokemon finally caught up to Decoda, biting his pant leg to stop him from walking.  The little thing was strong enough to hold him down, furious that he acted so harshly to a teammate.  When the trainer spun around to yank his pants free from the clamping mouth of the Pokemon, the sound of a violin rang through their ears coming from the door they had just passed.  Luckily Mudkip's mouth had opened just enough for Decoda to take back his leg and move towards the slightly ajar door that held Marley playing and dancing away for her solo act.

He stopped to listen to the music for a little, closing his eyes to listen in until she stopped the second time to twirl.  It was nice.  She played really well, so he imagined it would sound pretty amazing with a more room and a over the microphone.  Did he really want to get involved with her after he just told Catia off like that, though? Could the situation get any more awkward?

"At least someone's in a good mood," he sighed with a faint smile, opening his eyes and pushing the doorway open with the nudge of his shoulder.  He remained there, not wanting to start new problems by going in or staying out.

As Marley moved and played, two of the pokeballs she kept stored backwards on her belt (the balls are on her back instead on her side) burst open as a Lopunny and a Zoroark started doing an up beat waltz to Marley's music. Their trainer laughed loudly and hopped up onto a table and continued to play. Resin dust flew from her violin as her two pokemon twirled about the empty room, completely in sync.

"Come on Mirage! Just like practiced! One two three! One two three!"

"Zorr!"

"Keep up the steps, Mimi! Don't be afraid to get into it! This is for fun, not fame!"

"Punn~"



Zoe came out holding a couple of passes. She held one out to Cerise.

"Ok! We're able to get a short tour, right up to the start of the show!" She grinned. "We can start immediately~"

Since she didn't seem to notice them, he kept watching from the comfort of the doorway.  When the her own Pokemon were withdrawn and began dancing, he gasped.

"These Pokemon are... so she's a trainer too!" he mumbled, trying to withdraw his Pokedex to get the two creatures recorded.  Mudkip looked on with envy, wanting to play like that with Decoda for his performance.  Marley's words resonated with the little mudfish, and without consulting Decoda first, it ran into the room to bounce around and enjoy itself to the music.

"Mudkip, wait!" he called as he lunged into the room, tripping and falling forward onto his stomach after his Pokemon.

Decoda falling into the room with a loud thud was enough to spook everyone else. Marley fell off the table with a yelp, while Zoroark and Lopunny tripped over each other. They too fell over.

"Oww..."

Marley slowly got up and helped her pokemon back to their feet, then went over to Decoda and helped him up. Her two pokemon went over and sniffed at Mudkip, then Decoda. Zoroark licked his face, accepting of this new person. 

"You alright, Decoda?" she asked, now looking over the instrument. It didn't look damaged, and it sounded perfectly fine as she drew the bow across the strings. "That was quite a fall you had there!"

"Great!! Let's get going, then!" Cerise said with a wide smile as he stood, egg in hand once again. He followed Zoe into Silph co.'s building, Chespin on shoulder. He couldn't help but be amazed by the interior lobby, which held two beautifully crafted water fountains in its center.

"It's just as cool as I thought it'd be...!" Cerise said with a small gasp of excitement.

Catia blushes brightly at what Kar says. "Wh-what? No I don't! I just....I don't trust that new girl he's with. I'm worried that he might get hurt if he stays with her. Not to mention that he never introduced her to anyone else." She starts to grow frustrated and a bright flash of light comes out of her bag. Poochy is there after the light fades, growling and tugging on her pant legs. She looks down at her friend in surprise before realizing what he was trying to tell her. Taking a deep breath and gently kneeling down to scratch her precious Pokemon behind the ears, she picks him up and gives him a hug. "Alright you win Poochy. But being honest..." She returns her attention to Kar. "I really don't feel anything major towards Decoda. Like I said, he's my friend and I worry about him. I was just upset that he was paying more attention to this....Marley girl than his only other group of friends. I mean, he and I had wanted to play a song together in the streets and put on a show....and then he just walks off and does it with some other girl. I swear he's just like all of the other boy's I grew up with." She explained moving Poochy up to her head to sit and relax. She sighs and smiles at Kar. "Anyway, let's get back to the show about to happen. If you really want to try it, I'd like you to try and play along with my song. Acoustic always did sound better with a beautiful girl's voice didn't it?" She asks him with a wink.

Kar raised an eyebrow at Catia, listening to her words. He waited for her to finish before speaking.

"Aren't you traveling with him? So what if he wants to hang with someone else for a while! It's really his choice. It's fine to worry, but just because you don't get your way every once in a while doesn't mean that you can get so huffy about it." he paused, nodding to himself. "And Just because he cancels once on you doesn't mean I'll- I mean... he will again." 

Kar shook his head, sighing a bit.

"You have a lot to learn. Also, you're more cute then beautiful." He pinches her cheeks and tugs a bit. "I learned a girl doesn't become beautiful until you spend enough time with them. It's the same with guys."

Catia was about to growl at him for pinching her cheeks until she heard the beautiful comment. She breaks out into a mad blush and looks away bashfully. "W-well....I suppose you're right. I just worry that he'll get hurt. Regardless of the situation, he is still my friend." She tells him with a small smile. Clearing her throat and making the blush on her face fade a bit, she returns her full attention to Kar. "Thanks for that. I guess I kinda needed it. But now I should focus on my voice. We are still about to perform after all!" She tells him, grinning. She had to admit that she was excited about doing this. Before she returned to her corner of the room to practice though, she opened her messenger and sent something to Decoda.

Sorry about my little outburst. I'm just worried that you might get hurt. You *are* still my friend after all. Anyway, have a good time performing. And introduce me to that Marley girl you're so fond of! She looks nice.

After clicking send she smiles at Kar before going back to practicing her song. This time the first two verses of her song went off well without any real hiccups or tears. She was still dreading singing the rest of the song in front of the crowd but at least she would be able to do her earlier verses without choking!

Mukip had no intention to get its trainer to fall like that, and topple everyone over, so it stopped dancing and worriedly bounded back over to him and the others.  It wanted to teach him a lesson through embarassment and humiliation, not cause exterior pain.  Either way, it worked.

Decoda shut his eyes as he slowly got up from the ground with Marley's help.  His body shook with imbalanced frustration and upset emotions.  If her Pokemon could trust him, and she was so kind to him, he could trust her with a minor rant, right?  Was it fair?

"I'm not asking for anything, right?!  I didn't hurt you?  I didn't say or do anything to hurt anyone, right?" he began, his voice cracking around his second question.  He opened his eyes to reveal trembling pupils.  It wasn't often he let himself get emotional about something like this, but he was genuinely confused at the moment.

How was this possible?  It was only the second day he had known any of these people, and only one of them had managed to grow this festering field of answerless questions in his mind.  Sure Loka was mysterious and liked to be distant, and Cerise he had barely spent any one-on-one time with to fully understand the secrets he had inside, but Catia... she was something else.

"I just wanted to be friends, and part of being friends is making sure we look out for each other, get along and have fun... Right?"

From the tone of that last statement, it was easy to tell that Decoda was at his limit.  Again.  He wouldn't give up though.  He couldn't let the Professor down, nor the rest of the team.  He couldn't let the others know how he really felt.  He didn't want to be that guy.

Then the message came in.  He glanced at who it was from and sighed.  He didn't want to open it.  Not yet.  He wasn't ready.

Zoroark flipped off the music player as Marley sat on the table, patting the spot next to her. When Decoda sat down with her, she looked at him with a hard gaze.

"You aren't asking for anything," she started. "You didn't hurt me, either. I'm pretty sure you didn't do anything wrong." She studied the troubled Trainer's expressions and put a hand to his shoulder, trying to comfort him without it being too awkward. "Look, Decoda. If there's something going on, don't be afraid to ask for help. We may have met... " she checked her pokegear. "Only about 6 hours ago, but in that time I've learned a little bit about you. You have passion. You have strive, and you didn't let small things like stage fright bother you. You've helped us out a great deal by accepting to fill for our friend. If something or someone is bothering you, you CAN tell me." Marley removed her hand and sighed. "Even if I can't do anything to help, I can listen." 



"Well either way, he seems like a grown boy. No need to keep Braviary eyes on him!" Kar nodded and strummed a chord on his guitar. "And on that note~" he chuckled at his horrible pun. "Let's get back to practice!"



The tour went up to the higher floors, where Cerise got a glimpse into the 'behind the scenes' of the designing of pokeballs. Some of the workers tried to explain the scientifics, but it quickly became difficult to understand, so they stuck with the basics.

Catia grinned at Kar.  "Right~"  She replied before trying the next verse of her song.

I'll keep moving on
No matter what may come my way
And I'll sing
Not fearing what they say

This time she doesn't notice any hiccups in her voice so she keeps going.

Deep in my heart I know for sure
That you are hurt, feel insecure
And surely crying
Because you are only human

This time there's a very noticeable change in Catia's tone for the verse as she soon closes her eyes and gets lost in the passion of her own song, her tears finally falling.

These tears of mine are screaming out
"It's not a lie"
And as I cry I want to thank you
For showing me what I could be
I won't let go
I thank you so

After finishing the last verse, she finally notices that she was letting her tears fall and she quickly wipes them away before taking a deep breath and giving a brave smile to Kar and continuing with her vocal's giving a harmonic sound, after which there were more lyrics.

Try with all your might
But dreams only live in the night
I'm so tired of them always being out of reach

We don't realize
That the defeat's a disguise
Our fighting spirit is the flame of our souls

So I'll wait by that door
No matter what may come my way
And holding out my hand, I will say

She seems to get lost in the passion of her song again as her eyes close and she blocks out all of the sounds around her.

If you are crushed
If you are hurt
Here is the strength
And the confidence
You have misplaced
If you feel down
Listen for my song

These tears of mine are screaming out
I found you on this gray world
Without any blue
But you showed me every color
I'll hold your hand
And won't let go
I thank you so

Her voice peters off as she nears the end of her song before she hums happily to herself to finish it off.  Finally opening her eyes, she wipes what tears she had away and takes a deep breath.  It felt good to finally sing that song again after so long.

(OOC:  Anyone have guesses as to what song Catia was singing?  That's the entire song too btw~   )

(It's "My Song" from Angel Beats, using AmaLee's lyrics. Recognized it the first time you posted the lyrics.)

Cerise feels his brain turn to mush as the professors and technicians try to explain the Pokeball technology. Unfortunately, most went over his head. He did understand that early pokeballs were formed from apricorn trees, but not much else. Chespin was in a similar mindset, now rubbing its head as it tried to wrap its head around what it was being told. As the tour continues, Cerise admires the rest of the technology and devices that Silph utilized and developed. It... was staggering.

Decoda wiped his eyes and nose with the edge of his jacket and smiled at Marley's words.  He inhaled deeply, holding himself back from giving her a hug.  He was glad he took a chance and got to meet such a talented and kind girl.

"Thanks, Marley.  I appreciate it... I appreciate you... listening and everything else you taught me," he said to her softly, calming down significantly.

He then looked at her violin, almost forgetting she had been playing it so happily before he and Mudkip interrupted her and her Pokemon.

"You're an amazing instrumentalist.  I don't even think I could do more than this, at least, right now," he laughed lightly, gesturing towards his guitar.  "And I think Mudkip really got into it!"

The blue Pokemon was seated beside Decoda, putting its paw on his shoe and smiling.  "Kip!"

"Sorry about cutting you off, though.  I wish I had this more under control, but I'm still glad I talked to you.  When's your part due?" he asked, referencing when she played in the show.  It was almost time, so he wanted to get things back to normal as soon as possible.  He didn't want to mess anything else up.

Zoe looked at her pokegear and grabbed Cerise's arm.

"The show starts in 10 minutes! We better grab our seats before they're all taken!"

Before they leave, a couple of the scientists give them each a light blue ball with a pair of wings on them.

"These are prototypes of the newest pokeballs." one of the Scientists explained. "It makes it easier to capture pokemon, the lighter they are. Sort of the opposite of the Heavy ball."

The two said their thanks and they headed down to the Courtyard.



Kar managed to keep up with her singing, eventually being able to play smoothly. 

"Sounds pretty good." he looked at his pokegear, then up at Catia. "We should probably let them know we'll be performing together instead of separately. If you go do that, I'll work on polishing up my playing."



"The band performs towards the middle, and I solo near the end. They'll introduce us, so if we forget out number, we'll still know when." She stands up and readies her violin. "We've got time for... " she looks at the clock on the wall. "One more song. Mirage? Mimi? You up for one more?"

Her two pokemon hopped up and took up their positions, growling and squealing happily.

"Haha~ Alrighty then! Decoda, can you do me a favor and press the skip button for me?" Marley asked as she also took up a position.

As Decoda turned on the stereo and pressed play and skip, Marley began to play one more song.

(HERE is is~)

As she played, Zoroark and Lopunny twirled about, almost professionally keeping tempo and watching each other's movements.

Catia grins at Kar. "And you said we may not have the same music style~ I'll go and let them know." She says with a nod before walking over to the director of the Open Mic Night and smiling at her. "I've had a small change of lineup for my slot in the night's performer's. I'll be performing together with Kar from your lineup if that's okay?" She asks her nicely. She had to admit that she was excited to be having someone else actually play an instrument with her only real written song for once!

As she played and the Pokemon danced, Decoda couldn't help but feel drawn in by the music.  It may not have been his favorite genre, and done so on the last instrument he would have expected to play such a fast tune, but enjoyed it nonetheless.  Her skills made it easy to like, along with the little performance the Pokemon put on.  Such an odd group of misfits they were, and yet so perfect for this kind of thing!

Before he knew it his body began to move and sway to the music, sweeping up Mudkip in his arms and sliding a little with the mudfish Pokemon.  He avoided getting too close to the others dancing around and slowed his steps once the song was coming to a close.  He picked up Mudkip's little paws and had the happy creature clap for her, her Zoroark and Lopunny.

"That was awesome!  I didn't even know there were catchy songs out there like that.  Nice work, everyone," he said as he bowed to the talented Pokemon and their human trainer.

"Mud!" Mudkip agreed.

Decoda then looked down at his Pokegear to check the time, but found he still hadn't read Catia's message.  He opened it, feeling he was ready to read it, and was surprised that it hadn't contained spit and fire that he thought it would have.  He closed it again, making a mental note to apologize in person later, but feeling a lot better about the situation.  There would always be kinks in a new friendship, and now he knew he had others to talk to if he needed them.

He certainly felt like he knew how to deal with people more in the past two days than he ever thought he'd have to know.

"Of course! I'll make the change right away to avoid any inconveniences." the lady at the desk spoke, typing away. She looked up at Catia and smiled gently. "Ok~ You two are all set."

When Catia returned to Kar, he had his eyes closed and his guitar laying across his lap.

"How'd it go?" he asked, not opening his eyes.



Marley ended her song with her two pokemon posed on either side of her. She laughed heartily, enjoying the time. 

"Thanks! We have one other song that we have to perform, but that can wait until we actually go on stage." She turned to her pokemon. "Unless you guys aren't comfortable with that one. You two didn't really get time to practice. It's a lot of footwork, and I don't want you to hurt yourselves..."

Her two pokemon protested until Marley finally agreed.

"Alright... We'll do it." 

She turned back to Decoda. 

"We should get ready. It's Showtime."

"O-oh! We DO need to get going!" Cerise says with panic in his voice as he rushes with Zoe to the audience section of the Open Mic Night event. Hopefully, they could still get their seats!

Catia smiles and sits down in front of Kar. "We're all set to perform together. Thank you for doing this by the way. I've never had someone play an instrument to my song before." She told him.