CLOSE ENCOUNTERS [ELIZABETH]

[KENNETH JACOB CAPHINOM]

"Hmm. I wonder..." Anyone walking by would be able to tell that the blue-haired boy was lost in his thoughts. He stroked his hairless chin repetitively as he examined the building before him. It was one with the words "Pokémon Academy" written upon it, and Kenneth found himself wondering if he might like to stick around at a place like that. It was a place where beginner trainers could receive instruction and experience in a safe setting, and technically speaking, he was indeed a beginner. The idea of it sounded good to him in most respects, but there were two factors that prevented him from going inside: first, there was the price, which was far greater than he could afford to pay. After that, there was the nature of the place, which would no doubt stifle his adventurous urges. He wanted to be outside, traveling around and getting his hands dirty with his training. A life trapped inside studying theory and tactics would be too similar to the life he'd left behind.

With that established, Kenneth finally turned around and continued on his way through the city. Since he wasn't going to be stopping in the school, he decided that he was going to stop somewhere else. An ice cream shop would be nice; his sweet tooth was beginning to speak to him, most likely because he was passing all manner of candy shops that beckoned to him with their sugary delights. A man could only take so much before caving in, but now that he had, he didn't really know where to go. He'd come upon one of those decisions that couldn't be made with the flip of the coin, for there were too many shops to choose from. With a sigh, he accepted that his only options were to choose on his own or ask someone else.

A nearby girl with vibrant pink hair caught his eye, and he decided that she was as good a person to ask as any. Approaching from behind, he hesitantly tapped her on the shoulder before voicing his dilemma. "Excuse me, miss," he began. "I'm not from around here, and I'm looking for a nice place to sit down for a sweet treat. Would you happen to have any suggestions?"

[ELIZABETH CHAIN]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #DA8994;] elizabeth The city was a lot less quiet than the pink haired girl had suspected it to be. She had imagined buildings crammed together with people, both old and young, budging past one another. Pokemon filling the air what would be polluted with the mucky gasses from different homes. Yet, this illusion was shattered once Elizabeth entered. It was nothing like her home town, Goldenrod city; People had plenty of space to walk and didn't seem to be rushing anyway. Small stalls were located around the edges of the houses and many locals sold their own goods. She gave a sniff and seemed to breathe in clean air, it was nice, but she was hoping for a reminder of home. To say she hated it was she was there, she missed it. Walking around Elizabeth quickly cam accustom to the place, it wasn't half bad. Not really planning where she was going or what she was going to do, the Trainer just wandered around certain alleys, watching as unidentified Pokemon scattered around the bins. None of them looked nice enough to make her want to capture them, so she carried on. Not wanting to stay in the dirty conditions for much longer. A small poster caught her attention, it was advertisement for a new store that had opened. A ice-cream store with apparently fifty different flavors, yet Elizabeth doubted this as she could barely think for ten of the top of her head. Quickly she flinched as a hand touched her shoulder, and a voice came from behind her. "Excuse me, miss" was spoken by a blue haired boy, who looked a little older than her. She gave him a look, as if to say 'why are you talking to me?'. He hadn't seemed to notice as he carried on to say "I'm not from around here, and I'm looking for a nice place to sit down for a sweet treat. Would you happen to have any suggestions?" On further inspection she realized the guy was pretty cute, and decided she wouldn't mind talking to him. Elizabeth gave a little smile and spoke sweetly. "Oh, well I just read about this Ice-cream store, it should be just up the road. I'm not local here either, so perhaps we could walk there together?"

[/color] She began to set off without letting the boy respond, as she thought there was no way he could say no to her. s u m m a r y : erm... nothing~[/size][/div][/center][/td][/tr][/center][/table][/blockquote]

[KENNETH JACOB CAPHINOM]

"That sounds cool," Kenneth replied, but by the time he'd finished his sentence, the girl was already walking off. Had she been joking? She had given him a rather contemptuous look just the moment before, but he'd brushed it off under the assumption that she would mellow out once it became apparent that he wasn't about to drop some stupid pick-up line; he didn't fail to notice that she was a pretty girl who perhaps got that kind of thing more often than she might have liked. For the moment after he'd asked his question, she seemed to warm up a bit, but her sudden departure made her seem rather rude, to say the least. That didn't stop Kenneth from following her, though, as he held out hope that she might just be leading him to the ice cream shop she'd mentioned. If not, she would say as much before they got there.

Hesitantly, he decided to continue speaking to her, figuring that it was better to see where she stood now rather than waiting until she got him lost. "I'm Kenneth," he began, smiling halfheartedly. He sped up briefly so that he could walk beside her as he spoke rather than continuing to address her from behind. "You can call me Ken if you want, but Kenny is right out. I came to Unova from Johto just yesterday. What about you?" He observed enough of the pleasantries to get a conversation going, but kept most of the details to himself for the time being so as not to invest too much effort into making himself known to someone who might not want to know him. Hopefully, she would at least tell him where the ice cream shop was if she didn't actually intend to go there with him.

[ELIZABETH CHAIN]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #DA8994;] elizabeth The sound of Elizabeth's heels impacting with the concrete ground echoed around the alley way she had just entered. She still caught sound of the boy following her has she carried on. Trying to slow down for him without making it far too obvious. She brushed a strand a pink-dyed hair from her face and turned back to make sure the boy wasn't giving up, and to her surprise he was closer than she expected. "I'm Kenneth," she heard him say, and straight away she said to herself "Kenneth and Elizabeth... Elizabeth and Kenneth, it didn't go as well as she'd hoped, yet then why did she find herself thinking this. He didn't seem like her type, plus all this lovey dovey stuff would get in the way of her dream. She gave a smirk as he walked up closer to her, till they were side by side. "You can call me Ken if you want, but Kenny right out. I came to Unova from Johto just yesterday. What about you?" She paused a second to make sure he was done talking and took this her cue to speak. "Ken... nice to meet you. My name Elizabeth. Not Liz or Lizzie. Elizabeth." She spoke clearly and quickly, before she realized that she sounded slightly rude and tried to changed her tone. "So, Johto you say? Same here, I came from Goldenrod - starting to miss it actually,"Elizabeth gave an subconscious sigh and looked down to the ground; watching her feet as they paced forward, following the directions the poster had stated. "Where abouts were you raised then? What brings you to this region? She didn't want the conversation to die out, mainly because that would be extremely awkward. After turning a corner she saw a sign that reflected the same colors the poster had. This must be the ice-cream store, and it looked pretty nice. But she had to be careful, she didn't want to eat too much. s u m m a r y : n/a

[/td][/tr][/center][/table][/blockquote]

[KENNETH JACOB CAPHINOM]

"Ecruteak," Kenneth replied simply, his smile widening a bit. "Sounds like we didn't grow up too far away from each other. What are the odds, huh?" He was surprised that he would happen upon another person from Johto so quickly given that his home region was a fair distance away from Unova. That the person he ran into would be from a city so close to the one he'd grown up in was even more surprising, but not unpleasantly so; this was probably the closest he was going to get to seeing a familiar face. He still wasn't sure if he actually liked this girl, though, as it wasn't entirely clear how she felt about talking to him. He was trying not to think about it too much, though. After all, he hadn't been looking for a long-term friendship of any sort anyway.

He had prepared a half-truth for anyone who might ask him why he was so far away from home (as someone surely would). "I'm an aspiring Pokémon Trainer," he answered, all the while wondering if "aspiring" was an appropriate word to use considering that he was actually registered and everything. "I feel as though I've seen enough of Johto, though, and I thought it might be nice to explore a new place. Besides, I've heard that Unova is the place to be these days." He'd heard a few rumors here and there. Some people were saying that they'd seen Pokémon of exceptional power and rarity. Some people could only claim to have heard as much from others. Either way, the rumors were spreading, and word on the street was that they were more prevalent in Unova than they had ever been anywhere else. Of course, Kenneth was only half-interested in such rumors; he would be happy if he achieved some level of success with average Pokémon.

"And you?" He asked, turning her question around. "I hope I won't offend you if I say you look like you're after a position as a model or actress." The way the girl was dressed and her physical attractiveness were the source of his suspicions, which he usually wouldn't have voiced. He figured he could afford to be just a bit more forward with someone who'd grown up so close to him, if only because he thought she might desire his company more for his potential familiarity.

[ELIZABETH CHAIN]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #DA8994;] elizabeth While waiting for a response Elizabeth began to bite at her nails. She wasn't too good with talking to people, she'd never really had practice at it. What if he thought she was dull and stupid, or even worse... ugly?! Beginning to panic inside her head a bit, she nearly missed the boy's answer. "Ecruteak," he said bluntly, causing Elizabeth to turn back and look at him. He had a grin on his face as he spoke, what seemed pretty contagious and she also smiled a little. The boy didn't live far from her, but seeing as she never thought to venture out of Goldenrod, it wasn't a surprise to her that they had not yet met. "Sounds like we didn't grow up too far away from each other. What are the odds, huh?" Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and let in a small answer, "Well, how strange... I would have remembered a pretty face like you if I'd seen it!" She gave a jokey grin, but quickly realized that she sounded pretty stupid. "...I was joking!" She quickly spoke, to clear things up, "Not that you're not pretty, but I Jus- forget it." She had ended in a mumble and her cheeks turned a rose pink to match her hair that had fallen in front of her face when she slouched. "I'm an aspiring Pokémon Trainer," the boy answered to her previous question, yet didn't seem one hundred percent confident in his answer, was he hiding something? Yet, now wasn't the time to go all detective Elizabeth on him. "I feel as though I've seen enough of Johto, though, and I thought it might be nice to explore a new place. Besides, I've heard that Unova is the place to be these days." He carried on to give a bit more depth to his answer. Elizabeth nodded as she couldn't help but agree. Johto had done everything it could for her... it seemed to be almost bland now. Although, she guessed anyone could say that about their home, it's never as exciting for you as it is people on vacation there. She noticed that Ken seemed a bit lost in his own thought for a second or two. "and you?" he asked, seeing to want the conversation to expand, yet before she could answer, he seemed to have read her mind and told her herself. "I hope I won't offend you if I say you look like you're after a position as a model or actress." So was it really that obvious? Elizabeth gave a little chuckle. "Indeed, my true ambition is to become a Model, but I prefer to say I'm just here for an adventure, it stops me having to explain my whole life... So, how did y-" she cut herself off and decided to try change the subject a bit more as it seemed they were at the Ice-cream store and they'd been stood in front of it talking for a couple minutes. With a look up at the sign, Elizabeth said "Here we are, would you mind... erm..." she didn't know how to say it sweetly, so quickly blurted out "Joining me for some food?" and gave a big smile, trying to fight back the urge her body had to blush once again. It wasn't often she liked talking to people, but this guy seemed nice enough, plus she enjoyed his company. s u m m a r y : erm... nothing~

[/td][/tr][/center][/table][/blockquote]

[KENNETH JACOB CAPHINOM]

Kenneth had to hold back a bout of laughter as Elizabeth began to stumble over her words, but his attempt only resulted in an awkward sort of smile that suggested nervousness rather than calm. It might be weird for the moment, but at least it would keep his new friend from thinking that he was laughing at her. He didn't want to put her off by his action, as he was actually starting to like her. He guessed based on her brief communication failure that the feeling was mutual; she didn't come off as one who was consistently verbally challenged, and people didn't usually react so nervously to people they didn't like (unless they were intimidated, but Kenneth was sure that he hadn't intimidated her). That deduction helped to put him a bit more at ease. If she didn't seem to assume that she was better than him, then he wouldn't have to put forth the effort necessary to prove her wrong.

Their conversation came to a brief halt once they had reached their destination, and Kenneth took the time to look fondly upon the place. His mouth began to water as he looked at the various images of the goodies he could find inside. He actually let his mouth fall open for a moment, but he shut it quickly when Elizabeth began speaking again. He eyed her curiously as she made her proposal, surprised to see her looking so nervous about it. The evidence that she wasn't as haughty a girl as she'd first appeared was mounting, and with that in mind, Kenneth allowed himself to smile once more. "Of course I wouldn't mind," he replied. "Actually, it would be my pleasure. I was thinking just last night that it would be nice to have another person to interact with, even if it's only for a little while."

He guessed Charmander might have been offended by that statement, as it implied that he was not good enough company for his trainer. Fortunately, he probably hadn't heard it from his place in his Pokéball. The creature was proving himself to be a great companion, but not so much that he was an adequate replacement for some human company. Of course, the language barrier certainly played a part in that judgment.

Behaving as a gentleman should, Kenneth moved forward and held the door open for Elizabeth. "Shall we?"

[ELIZABETH CHAIN]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #DA8994;] elizabeth "Of course I wouldn't mind," Ken had said, leaving Elizabeth smiling more than she had before, not thinking that was actually possible. "Actually, it would be my pleasure. I was thinking just last night that it would be nice to have another person to interact with, even if it's only for a little while." He finished speaking, and Elizabeth looking up at him eagerly "It's settled then, let's eat," she spoke a lot more femininely than she ever had before and wasn't at all fazed by her sudden change in personality, it seemed that Kenneth was like some kind of medicine for her. The blue haired boy walked forward and held the door open for Elizabeth, "Shall we?" He asked, allowing her to walk by him. What a gentleman, it wasn't often you found a guy like this now-a-days, all they seemed to care about was their Pokemon and nothing else. The girl walked inside the store, where her eyes met multiple different colors showing off all the flavors they had here. A couple children sat with their mother, all with about four scoops on their's and Elizabeth looked at them enviously. Of course there was no way she'd even have two scoops, let alone four! Walking toward the counter where a round man was getting served, Elizabeth turned back to Ken. "Oh, I just can't decide what flavor, there's hundreds!" she cried, obviously over-exaggerating, yet the store did seem to have every person with a different flavor of their own. She scanned the glass counter that held buckets of the sweet food, and began to sing ennie mennie minnie mo for this hard choice. Finally she came to her conclusion, just as the man in front finished. She skipped to the worker, "One scoop of bubblegum please!" Whether it was because the ice-cream was pink, or because she had never tried it before, Elizabeth didn't know, but she waited in anticipation. Quickly she added, "Oh yeah, and my friend here will have," she turned around to Kenneth, letting him know it was his cue to order. w o r d c o u n t : three hundred and forty five

[/td][/tr][/center][/table][/blockquote]

[KENNETH JACOB CAPHINOM]

Kenneth followed Elizabeth into the shop and immediately began to look about to see what was offered and what was popular. To his surprise, it was difficult to get an answer to either question; while there weren't literally hundreds of flavors, there were definitely too many for him to count quickly, and no more than two or three people seemed to have selected any of the same flavors. It seemed as though Elizabeth was as overwhelmed as he was, and he chuckled briefly at her exclamation. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he said. "There are flavors on the menu that I've never even heard of!" A few of them were named after Pokémon, which almost made Kenneth uncomfortable. Did they actually taste like the Pokémon in question, or were they just named for the color? He considered the implications for a moment, but assumed the later and brushed the question off quickly. The prospect was surely too ridiculous to be true.

That established, the Trainer got ready to order as Elizabeth made him aware that it was his turn. Deciding to just indulge himself and get his favorite flavors, he said, "I'll have one scoop of Chocolate Chip, one Cookies 'n Cream, and one Strawberry." The shopkeeper said that the orders would be complete in a minute and set to work on preparing them. During that time, it occurred to Kenneth that they needed to work out their money situation. They had entered together and ordered together, so the server would no doubt assume that they were together and would thus assume that Kenneth was going to pay. He wasn't against the idea since he fully intended to rough it for most of his journey, thereby saving quite a bit of money. He didn't know if Elizabeth was the kind of girl who cared to be "taken care of" like that. There was only one way to find out. "Would you like to pay for yours, or is it all right with you if I take care of it?" He asked, smiling as unassumingly as possible. He silently congratulated himself on finding such an effective way to phrase the question. He made paying sound like a positive option, but also implied that he really wanted to pay for both of them. Yeah, there was no way this was going to get as awkward as it could have now.

[ELIZABETH CHAIN]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #DA8994;] After the blue-haired boy ordered the man declared the amount of time it'd take to make their sweet treats and wondered off. Elizabeth turned to Ken and gave a smile, and began to wonder; was this a date? It certainly was set up right to be like one. Anyone who saw them would probably come to a similar conclusion. But, of course it wasn't. It was two people getting some food and just... talking. But then why did she feel so different when she tried to speak to Kenneth? These train of thoughts came to a halt when he asked her something. "Would you like to pay for yours, or is it all right with you if I take care of it?" This had completely slipped her mind, who would be paying for this. If the boy payed, would he think this was a date? Elizabeth couldn't have that happen, she liked the guy, but getting into any kind of relationship or crush was not good for her right now. "It's fine, I'll pay for mine, she said, smiling and pulling her purse out from her bag. She also had another reason for wanting to pay for herself... seeing as she hated people spending their money on her. She preferred to feel independent when it came to things like this. "Although..." Elizabeth started, "Can I just hand you the money and you pay for them together? I have a thing with-" Turning to make sure the man had not returned, she finished "-touching stranger's hands... You just don't know where they've been!" She said it quietly, but the way she said it was frantic, as if it was a huge deal for her. She handed Kenneth the exact amount of money her scoop of bubblegum ice-cream would amount to, and smiled. She didn't want to wait for him to answer her before she did it, this way it would be far too awkward for him to refuse now. At this moment the man returned with their ice-creams, and Elizabeth giddily grabbed hers trying to calculate her daily calories, but gave in. It was just too delicious looking to care! Looking around she saw a high up table with two stools around it, and decided that would be where they sat once he had payed for their treats with the money. Quickly she scanned her mind for conversation starters and topics. It then occurred to her that she didn't yet know about the boy's Pokemon team. "So, which Pokemon have you got so far, any cute one?" She couldn't help but ask, wondering if he had any she could venture after during her journey. w o r d c o u n t : four hundred and forty one

[/td][/tr][/center][/table][/blockquote]

[KENNETH JACOB CAPHINOM]

"All right, then," Kenneth said pleasantly, and he pulled out his own wallet to acquire the necessary funds. He was glad that the issue had been resolved so quickly and even happier that it hadn't been too uncomfortable. He moved to stand at the register in order to hand the money to the shopkeeper when the time came, but his attention was drawn to Elizabeth again when she asked him to pay for her cone with her money. The suggestion came off as odd to him, and had he the time, he might have had a question about it despite her explanation. She acted too quickly, though, and almost immediately after she'd shoved her money into his hands, the shopkeeper came back with both cones. Elizabeth took hers and started on it after a moment's hesitation, and Kenneth turned back and handed the money to the shopkeeper, deciding that it was too late to ask any questions. "Thanks a lot," he said with a smile, and he took his cone and quickly began consuming the ice cream as he moved away from the counter; it was never pleasant to have three scoops melt into his hands.

The Trainer took a break when asked about his Pokémon. "Well..." he began, looking upwards thoughtfully as if the question required significant consideration (it didn't). "I only have one right now that might fit the common definition of 'cute', and that's my Charmander. I'd invite him out for some ice cream, but I doubt he'd want to eat anything so cold." As he understood it, Charmander was a Pokémon that needed to stay as warm as possible at all times, and while a bit of ice cream probably wouldn't kill him outright, it wasn't unlikely that it might make him sick. Charmander wasn't the only Pokémon he had to use in battle, but he remained the strongest, and Kenneth didn't want to be the cause of his strongest partner's incapacitation.

[ELIZABETH CHAIN]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #DA8994;] Elizabeth listened intensely as the boy told her about his Pokemon. So he only had one? But, it was a Charmander, and Elizabeth couldn't deny that they were pretty damn cute. She nodded in agreement as he began to say how he probably wouldn't enjoy the cold ice-cream. Then began to think about her Pokemon. She had four so far, and didn't intend to let many, if not all, of them out right now. Of course the new Stantler she'd brought would be far too big for the ice-cream store, and a flying Pokemon like her Rufflet wasn't a good idea. Then there was her little Eevee, yet she knew how rare they were here, and didn't need people getting her cuddly with it. It wasn't like she was a super amazing trainer and caught it herself... she got it from a little game stall here. Finally she had her little Happiny, Lulu. Her first Pokemon, pretty small and would easily be able to sit on their table and be obedient, but Elizabeth decided against this. She made her way to the table, and sat down on one of the stalls, leaving her a little higher up than she was before. She look a lick of her ice-cream and couldn't help but mumble, "Oh sweet Arceus," it was just so delicious! But Elizabeth knew the rule, if something tasted good, do not eat too much of it. So carefully she thought best to savor the treat, and began to lick at it slowly. Looking to Kenneth she began to explain her Pokemon team, "Well, I've got four Pokemon. A Happiny, Stantler, Rufflet and finally an Eevee," she tried to say Eevee's name as if it was no big deal and carried on, although, come to think of it, there were plenty of Eevee trainer from Ecruteak, right? "I have to say, they're all pretty cute and are great companions. We may not have been together for that long, but I love them all." She sang the last couple of words, and looked to her bag where the four Pokéballs were, and gave a smile as if they could see her. Elizabeth thought she'd be adventurous and try take a small bite of the bubble gum ice-cream, what left her froze for a second, and wincing as her brain felt like it was going to explode. She tried to say the word 'brain-freeze', but was unable. Oh no, this was so embarrassing, what would Kenneth think?! w o r d c o u n t : four hundred and fourteen

[/td][/tr][/center][/table][/blockquote]

[KENNETH JACOB CAPHINOM]

Kenneth's smile grew a little wider as he watched Elizabeth enjoy her ice cream. Her comment on it elicited a bit of laughter from him, and he took a break from enjoying his own cone to say "That good, hm?" She wasn't alone in his joy. While the flavors he'd ordered were familiar to him already, they were still most pleasing to the taste every time he had the chance to enjoy them. He licked a few times at the edges of his cone, which had begun to accumulate melted ice cream, before swallowing and adding "I'm glad you brought me here."

He stopped completely for a moment as Elizabeth began to tell her about her Pokémon and watched her with curious eyes. He honestly hadn't realized that she'd been carrying any, and he assumed she'd only asked him about his because she was a traveling girl who happened to have a passing interest in cute Pokémon. To his surprise, here she was listing off all the Pokémon she'd managed to acquire, and he was almost ashamed to admit to himself that she had more of them than he did. How long had she been collecting them? Had she been going for a while, or had she done in one day what Kenneth felt would take him at least one week? The question began to nag at him, and his previous confidence in his abilities as a Trainer began to fade away. It didn't vanish completely, though; there were other variables to be considered.

After a few moments spent staring quite awkwardly, Kenneth regained his smile. Watching Elizabeth recoil after trying to bite her ice cream helped in that regard, and he could tell what was wrong without her having to say anything. "There's an art to eating ice cream quickly without suffering brain freeze," he said jovially. "Unfortunately, the only people who can master it are the people who eat too much of the stuff. Building up a tolerance is half the battle." He was sure that he was telling her something that she wasn't really too interested in, so he chose not to elaborate further. He was just glad they'd found something else to talk about for the moment. They could circle back to the topic of training later on, preferably after the ice cream was finished; he was expecting a rather "heated" conversation.

[ELIZABETH CHAIN]

[atrb=style, background-color: #DA8994; width:420px;][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, border:1px dashed #da8994;, bTable][atrb=style,][style=color:#DA8994; font-family:georgia; font-size:10px; text-align: center; padding: 5px; margin: 10px; width:410px; opacity: 0.5;] [/style] Trying to shake off the brain freeze that had overcome her, Elizabeth tried to listen to what Kenneth was saying. She found it adorable how he spoke like he was a little child. She smirked as the searing pain faded and decided to lick her ice-cream instead. Obviously this boy had a very sweet tooth and was use to eating treats like such. She kept eye contact with Kenneth and tried to keep a positive facial expression. "So..." She muttered, trying to think of another conversation starter for it was getting a little quiet. One of Elizabeth's fingers were twirling in her pink-hair as her mind searched for anything that she could say. "I've liked being here with you- I mean here. I've liked being here... where you are." She began to blush, realizing she was blurting out anything that popped into her head right now. She decided best just to collapses her hand into the palm of her hands and pretend nothing happened. After a couple seconds of reliving the stupid sentence she'd just said, Elizabeth looked back up, trying not to look at Kenneth directly. Her hands lay out on the table where her recently devoured ice-cream had been. "Let's pretend that didn't happen... M'kay?" She muttered, finally building up the courage to speak and look the boy in his eyes. She had totally embarrassed herself and now felt like an idiot. It wasn't that she didn't like being with Kenneth, because she did. She was having a good time, but she didn't want to be leading him on... Hopefully he would just take it as a simple compliment and think nothing of it... yet was Elizabeth really that lucky? She stood up finally and cleared her throat, striving to ask something. "Now that we're done here," She began, her voice sounded a lot more confident than previous occasions, "Would you like to go outside and battle?" The rest of the words came quick and it was easy to tell she'd planned how to say it before hand. Elizabeth was a trainer after all and it was her duty to train her pokémon and here was the perfect opportunity. w o r d c o u n t : three hundred and fifty nine

[/size][/div][/center][/td][/tr][/center][/table][/blockquote][/center]

[KENNETH JACOB CAPHINOM]

As Elizabeth began to fumble over her words yet again, Kenneth smiled politely, but began to grow inwardly frustrated with her behavior. She reminded him of one of his reasons for wanting to get into training: Pokémon, without even being able to speak, were much simpler than people. They lived, they ate, they fought, and they died. They either liked a person or they didn't, and there weren't usually awkward in-between places. Humans, on the other hand, were masters of mixed messages. Kenneth couldn't say that he didn't deliberately send out such signals himself, but he didn't like to be on the receiving end. Elizabeth almost seemed to be jerking him around. Between ever few minutes of friendly interaction, she would say something indicative of a poorly-understood crush before immediately trying to draw it back. If they hadn't just met, Kenneth might have felt inclined to try forcing the issue, but the fact was that he was still a relative stranger to her. Hopefully, the behavior would sort itself out over time if they continued to interact. Otherwise, he couldn't see himself not thinking of her as an annoyance.

Because he was better at controlling his face than he was at controlling his tone, he simply nodded when she suggested that they pretend she hadn't said what she'd said. He went back to eating his ice cream, which was mostly gone now. All that really remained was the melted cream in its cone, so he began to consume both at once. Then, she spoke up again, this time suggesting that they go out and battle. That removed all doubt about whether or not she was a Trainer, and Kenneth paused to respond. "Well, I guess we have to, huh?" He said. "'When two Trainers make eye contact, they must battle.' I'm pretty sure I've heard that's a rule or something. Had I realized you were a Trainer to begin with, I would have challenged you sooner." He smirked briefly, then continued to eat. His battle with her was going to be his first, and though he seemed calm at the moment, he was actually pretty excited about it.

Once he finished his cone, he picked up a napkin and began to clean up his hands. "Is three Pokémon each all right with you?" He asked. "Because I only have three."