"Finally, Petalburg City!" Haru exclaimed, Shiyu bounding alongside him.
Well... it's not so much a city as a small little town, practically a village. Haru just shrugs and locates the Poké Center. Going inside, Haru looks around as he walks toward the counter. There are some new trainers much like himself, only they still have one perhaps two Pokémon with them. Haru arrives at the counter and greets the pink-haired woman behind the desk.
"Good morning, I'd like to have my Pokémon checked please." Haru greeted kindly.
"Good morning to you!" the woman chirped. "Then I'll take your Pokémon... would you like your Eevee to remain outside?"
"If that's not too much trouble?" Haru asked.
"Of course not. Very well then, it'll only take a few minutes." She replied.
"I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't get your name?" Haru requested.
"Oh my apologies! I'm Nurse Joy." With that, Nurse Joy gives him one last smile before walking through the swinging doors to the back.
"Huh, Nurse Joy... I'll have to ask Sakura if there's any relation." Haru muttered to himself before going to the side and sitting down on the couch. Sighing at the feel of the soft couch beneath him after nights of not-as-soft grass, Haru waited patiently for his Pokémon to come back. While waiting he pulled out his camera and went through shots he'd taken during training, or moments he caught his Pokémon off guard.
"Wow, you're really good!" Startled, Haru whipped around to see a girl backing up from him with a sheepish expression.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." She apologized. She had mousy brown hair and wore a large yellow shirt that ended just below her navel with one sleeve slipping down her shoulder, and mottled cargo capris pants with brown boots.
Haru smiled. "It's alright. And thanks for the compliment... but I'm not that great." He denied.
The girl took a few tentative steps forward until she was as close as she had been before, now looking down at the camera's shot previews. "Oh, but I think these are great! Your Pokémon look really happy and you got really awesome shots of them performing attacks. Ooh, a Ralts?!" she gasped, hand flitting forward to touch Shizu, frozen forever performing Heal Pulse. "Lucky!"
"I know." Haru agrees with a laugh. "My name is Haru by the way."
"I'm Kiki, nice to meet you!" she grinned. "Say... how much would it cost me if I wanted you to take pictures of my Pokémon?"
"You want me to take pictures of your Pokémon?" Haru parroted. "I mean... why?"
"To send back to my family—I've got little brothers that would love action pictures like these. You'd take way cooler shots than if I just made them stand in a line with me." Kiki insisted.
"Well see I took these photos when my Pokémon were active, they aren't just posing. So if I were to take their pictures, they'd have to be battling or something." Haru explained.
Kiki deflates. "But... I only just got my Mudkip three days ago," she whined. "There's no way I can battle anyone."
"What's this about battling?" A boy with light blue hair in a messy mop atop his head walked forward with an eager expression.
"Well, she's worried that since her Pokémon is so new, any battles right now would be out of the question." Haru explained, a faint bemused smile crossing his face as he sees other trainers perk up and start to listen to their conversation.
"And I want him to take pictures of my Mudkip, like he took pictures of his Pokémon, but in order to do that the Pokémon have to act naturally, and the best way to get them to forget the camera is to have them battle." Kiki continued. "I'm Kiki by the way, and this is Haru."
"Name's Kaoru, it's nice to meet you." Kaoru introduced himself with a bright grin. "Well Kiki, have you done any sort of training with your Pokémon at all?"
"What do you mean?" Kiki asks.
"Like have it battle wild Pokémon or something." Kaoru explained.
"Well... there was this one wild Wurmple?" Kiki said, but it sounded more like a question.
"Good enough!" Kaoru claimed. "I'm just a beginner myself, and have had some run-ins with only an Oddish and a Treecko. And, unfortunately... heh, the Treecko kicked my poor Torchic's butt. Still, what do you say to a battle?"
"Right now?" Kiki asked in surprise.
"Why not? Since we're so close to the Poké Center, it seems pretty easy." Kaoru shrugged.
"If you guys can battle, I've got the camera all set and ready. I'll even take on the winner!" Haru enticed with a grin, waving the camera around.
Kiki looked from Haru to Kaoru, biting the corner of her bottom lip in thought. Taking out her Pokéball, she let out her Mudkip. "Come on out, Akira!"
"Mud!" Akira chirped, looking around at the new humans and then back to her trainer.
"Akira, what do you say to a battle right now?" Kiki asked. She grinned as her Mudkip bounced in place and replied with an affirmative bark. She looked up at Kaoru and grinned. "Okay, we're ready!"
"Hey, mind if we get in on this too?" The three kids looked over to a couple of kids, holding their starter Pokémon, a Torchic and a Treecko, in their arms.
"My name's Kin, and I bet Ishi can beat your Pokémon!" Kin, the black-haired girl with the roguish grin boasted, her Torchic chirping tauntingly in her arms.
"And my name's Zasu, Naegi will totally blow you guys out of the water!" Zasu was a boy with spiky, close cropped dark hair and a smug smirk, whose Treecko smirked and beckoned them forward in a challenging manner.
Haru smirked. "I've got no problems taking you guys on... what about you, Kaoru and Kiki?"
"Let's see who wins the match between me and Akira first—the winner and Haru will fight those two, and then whoever is left fights each other!" Kiki suggested enthusiastically. "It'll be a Battle Royale!"
"Sounds exciting... I'm getting fired up just thinking about it!" Kaoru claimed eagerly.
"Haru? Your Pokémon are perfectly fine, you can come and get them if you'd like." Nurse Joy breaks up their competitive stares, and Haru jogs over to the counter. Shiyu jumps onto his shoulder and nuzzles his cheek, making Haru laugh.
"Missed you too pal. Thanks a lot Nurse Joy, and..." He paused, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't suppose it'd be a bother if we all did some practice battles?"
Nurse Joy grins. "It's fine, just don't overdo it— the park down the road should be a fine place to battle, and when you guys are done just bring them back here."
"Great! Thanks Nurse Joy." Haru grabs his Pokéballs, and walks over to the group. "Okay, my Pokémon are all set, and Nurse Joy says there's a park a little ways down from here we can battle at." He informed them.
"Well then let's go!" Zasu declared. The group moves out of the Pokémon Center and walks down the road, the silence between them all charged with energy and threatened by the sly glances and challenging grins.