First thing's first, Aiden made the familiar trek back to Mura's Pokemon Center. He knew there was a healing machine in the Gym, but he'd feel more confident if he knew a Nurse was making sure his pokemon were fine before he faced Ricky. He came up to the Center soon enough and entered via the automatic glass doors.

The scene was the same, with injured pokemon lying on any available surface, two Chanseys and a police officer taking care of them, and Nurse Joy stationed at her desk to see to any visitors.

She smiled at Aiden. "Nice to see you again," she said. "I hope your Pinsir is in better shape than it was before."

Hey, she remembered him. "Not really, actually. She got beat up pretty bad." He put hers and Zerk's pokeballs on the counter and then recalled Brick and added her pokeball to the two.

He was trying not to pay attention to everyone in the Center. He didn't care what happened to them either way, but he found it was easier to just try and not think about it.

"Oh my." Joy looked somewhat concerned at the mentioning of Rae's new condition, but she didn't question him about it. She just nodded and took Aiden's pokeball to deposit in the machine.

As usual, the machine hummed quietly upon activation, sustained the noise for a while, and then ended once all injuries had been taken care of. Joy only had to glance over the paper rolling out of the machine. Everything must have been fine since she immediately handed over Aiden's pokeballs again with a smile. "All healed. It'd be pretty silly to say 'stay out of trouble,' so I'll just hope your next battles go a little more in your favor."

Update: Brick, Zerk, and Rae are at 100% health.

((*dives into Aiden's mind* Wahoo! Oh, uhh, f-bomb warning too.))

"Thanks," Aiden said simply, hitching the pokeballs back onto his belt and heading for the door. He didn't bother mentioning that the reason she'd been hurt was because one of his own pokemon got into a fight with her...

He passed the wounded pokemon and people without much interest or care and headed back outside. For the first time since he was in Mura, he wasn't in a complete rush. He put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath of city air. Aiden hated cities. Then again, Aiden hated a lot of things. Cities had people. Annoying people. People who didn't understand him.

Dawning his usual scowl, he sauntered towards the Gym. He'd been there once before, and although it'd been awhile since last he'd been there, he knew the general direction to go. He made a mental promise to himself to book a room in a motel or something and take a day or two, or heck, at least an evening off from this trainer business. It had proved to be much more bothersome and adventurous than Aiden had hoped. He hated adventures, he didn't want one. And yet fate, witty-intervening bitch, seemed to always have a plan for Aiden. Why did she hate him so much? Why did she insist on making his life so eventful when there were plenty of other folks out there who'd die to have some action in their life?

Aiden sighed. He had asked for it afterall. What did he think he was signing up for when he made up his mind to go to Kutho?

Certainly not this... he thought moodily.

He came to a large intersection and pressed the button on the lightpost and waited for the signal to change.

Then again, he'd been pulling off things he'd never been able to do before. He'd been traveling around constantly. And for what? To do work? To train a team of pokemon? And why was he training them? To do more work? To battle against other trainers? And why?

Why.

Now there was a good question.

Aiden had never been one to work. At all. And now here he was, working his ass off. And it hadn't paid off much. What did he get for his efforts? A few extra coins he could waste on items for his silly little trek? In fact, all he'd really accomplished was getting next to all of Kutho furious at him, and some of them even wanted him dead! Wasn't that enough of a cause to do everything Aiden was doing?

The light changed and Aiden strode through the street onto the next sidewalk.

And what's more, he'd caused more harm than good. For fuck's sakes! He'd been the reason for an entire cities destruction! He'd killed countless people! It was a good thing Aiden's morals were so low, and his emotional shell so thick, else he would've been in a much worse state.

If there was one good thing to come out of any of this... it was the pokemon Aiden had acquired. He'd never pictured them quite as tools, like those cliche villians in those cheap-ass cartoons he watched when he was little, but he'd never thought it was possible for him to get so... close to them. Wait, close? That wasn't right.

... right?

Growing up, Aiden had very few friends. But the great thing was, he didn't care. He didn't care about them, he didn't care about friends, or family, or work, or morals, or respect, or authority...

... He just didn't care. It was who he was. And, wasn't it not long ago, during a fight between two of his own pokemon did he almost shed a tear? Yes then. It was true. Brick and Zerk, hell, even Taste, Rae, and Shade. They were the closest thing he had to friends. And in spite of himself, he ended up... caring for them. And in return they too, even if some of them didn't quite realise it, cared for him too.

Aiden shook his head as he passed the restaraunt he'd eaten at before (the wonderful scent wafting from it made his mouth water and his head dizzy). He was stronger than this. He didn't let people in. It was jus the way he was. Yet his pokemon, which he'd only known for a short time, were already the most important things to him.

... and it made him sick. To feel compassion and love-- it wasn't like him! But, whether Aiden Slade accepted it or not, he loved his pokemon.

So perhaps there was some good to come out of this whole vandetta after all. A few friends? That was hardly worth it.

Aiden turned a corner. Ahead of him, was Mura City's own Featherwing Gym.

"What am I doing here?" Aiden mumbled, rubbing his face and heading inside.

((You know what makes Aiden awesome? He's the only character in this RP that can step into a new region, willingly be a trainer, and be justifiably pissed off that there's so much adventure involved. XD

Say, what do I do about Ricky? Should I just teleport him back to the gym, or is he still in the Docklands defending Lindsey?))

Aiden didn't get very far inside of the very spacious and slightly windy gym. A man Aiden's age had been sitting near the entrance of the gym and was humming something slow and tuneless. At Aiden's arrival, he sighed and and reluctantly stood up. "Let me guess... You're here to get information on the gym?" he asked. It seemed this was the standard question for all new visitors, and the young man looked rather bored and disheartened.

((Erm, as soon as he's done defending Lindsey and whatnot, he's heading right back to Mura. But if you want to make him be at the Gym now, I think that'd be fine.

You know what, I had an idea. Since in real life, the Gym Leaders wouldn't just sit around all day in their Gym waiting for challengers, perhaps challengers have to speak with the secretary or whatever and arrange a date for the battle. Ehh, just an idea.))

Aiden blinked. Information? "Not really. I'm here to challenge Ricky..." He looked around a little. "Erm, where is he?"

((Hey, I'm fine with the whole secretary thing. Since Ronnie's the first person you meet when you fight in the gym, he could act as secretary. You want to do that here, with Aiden's day of battle taking place right after Ricky leaves Lindsey and heads back to Mura?))

((Oh, sure.))

"Wh... What? You're here to battle?" From the mix of suspicion and surprise on the guy's face, Aiden must have either said a lie, difficult to detect sarcasm, or an impossible claim. Realization and extreme joy kicked in simultaneously. "All right! You're really here to battle?!"

Some degree of professionalism kept the man from getting too out of line, though, and he visibly forced his giddiness down. Somewhere along that difficult struggle, he seemed to recall some news that sent him straight back to his initial emotion, disappointment. "Oh, wait, Ricky's not in... Er, I'm Ronnie, the guy in charge of scheduling battles, so if you could leave your name and phone number with me, I can arrange a battle day for you to take on Ricky," he suggested. He fished a PokeNAV of his own out of his jeans pocket and looked to Aiden hopefully.

Aiden glared at Ronnie irritably. Ricky wasn't in?

He whipped out his own PokeNAV and held it boredly out in front of him so his and Ronnie's could scan each other. "Aiden Slade," he answered simply.

Ronnie shrugged helplessly in response to Aiden's glare. But since Aiden had his PokeNAV out, Ronnie went ahead and the held his own PokeNAV close enough for a successful scan. "Hmm, come back... Two days from now. Yeah, that's perfect actually. If you forget or something, I'll give you a ring, and if you still don't show up, that's an auto-forfeit and you'll have to come back to reschedule."

((The only reason I made it two days was because you sometimes do the occasional "time jump ahead one day" thing with Aiden. It's just to make sure that Ricky can take his time in Lindsey's RP and you still have the freedom to time jump if you want to.

If Ricky gets back to Mura faster than expected or you don't feel like time jumping, then I can always have Ronnie call Aiden up with a opportunity to fight Ricky earlier than scheduled.))

An auto-forfeit? "I'll be there," Aiden said and turned to leave. He was getting his break earlier than expected. And two days until Ricky showed up?

Perfect.

Aiden didn't know what Ricky was out doing and honestly, he didn't care. It probably would have been wise to head back out onto one of the routes to train somemore, but to hell if Aiden was going to haul his ass back out there and work some more. He was done working. He'd earned a little down time. He could only relish the thought of not having to even think about his daily worries.

In a much better mood, he left the Gym and pulled up his PokeNAV's map. He quickly spotted Mura's location on the continent and zoomed in on it. PRessing a small button on the holographic image he booted up its search engine and said audibly so the machine could hear him, "Cheap hotels." The device only picked up hotels, Aiden grumbled peevishly, and its highlighted the several hotels and motels in the area. Aiden picked the nearest one, pointed himself in its general direction, and then headed off to check it out. He wasn't picky. So long as it was reasonably cheap and had a comfy bed... he was good.

((And Aiden's PokeNAV continues to gain new features! xD))

((Oh boy. XD I bet they'll have A.I. soon enough.))

The building in question was a two-story motel--aptly named "Motel"--painted the most uninteresting shade of gray known to man. It wasn't fancy. It wasn't run-down. It was just so... Boring. The eye just seemed to naturally fall of it and drift to the nearest scenery, for even the darkness of asphalt was more appealing to the eye. And, if one managed to stay focused on the unbelievably dull building, it was made very clear that the motel would neither be impressive nor disappointing.

Aiden grinned.

Perfect.

He adjusted his pack on his shoulders uncomfertably. Already he couldn't wait to sling it off his back and sink into a real bed.

He entered the motel and looked around for a receptionist, or someone who could point him to a room as quickly as possible. Aiden's feet were about ready to detatch themselves from his legs and beat him senseless.

There was a receptionist's desk almost immediately upon entering. It too was gray, and it was manned by an appropriately gray-haired, non-descript man most likely in his seventies. On his white shirt (that read "Motel" in grey font) was a name tag reading "Hello my name is Burton." He sat precariously on a stool, constantly about to nod off, while trying his best to focus on some black and white western on a wall-mounted TV. It was muted.

Burton greeted Aiden with a "hrgh" and turned towards him with the speed of a drugged snail. A vaguely welcoming smile had started to stretch on his lips, died before its completion, and left the man with an unfortunate-looking frown. "Singles... 35 Kuts a night," he croaked. He nobly kept pitching the motel. "Free breakfast. Food is to... Die for."

Aiden blinked at him. "I'm sure." He fished out his wallet and counted out 70 Kuts. There he was, blowing all his cash again. At least it was a better cause this go around.

There better be some cash reward for beating Ricky... he thought miserably as he parted with his cash.

"Ehh, I guess I'll book a room for two nights."

Burton slowly opened a drawer. With a long, gnarled hand, he took out a black key card and set it on the table. The hand began to shake with effort. Then it began the painful process of turning over palm side up to receive the 70 Kuts. "Room 18. Second floor. Down the hall." The hand was halfway there. "Just past..."--almost, almost--"The pool." And mission accomplished. Burton had his hand out.

Aiden put the Kuts into Burton's hand and took the key card. "Thanks," he said with a nod and headed towards the stairs. He stopped halfway there and then turned back around to Burton. "Get some sleep, man. You look awful," he said bluntly and then headed up the stairs.

((Assuming there isn't an elevator for a two story motel. xD))

((An elevator would be too exciting for his place.))

"Night, ma'am," he responded and went back to watching his muted western as Aiden left.

The hallways were quiet and all the doors closed. Even the string of florescent lights overhead seemed tired as they refused to adequately light the way. The dim lightning made it easy to see that three or so rooms had light peeking out from underneath their doors. There were muddy hoof prints on the gray carpeted floor.

Room 18 was near the back of the motel. The hoof prints stopped and their path curved in at Room 18's door, but the path of prints curved out again and left for further down the hall. There were also small scratch marks around the base of the door handle, but other than that, the entrance looked intact and normal. There was a key card slot besides the door.

Aiden was so eager to get to his room, he didn;t even hear Burton call him ma'am. Nor did he pay any mind to the strange hoof prints leading to his room. He put the key card into the slot, waited for the little light thingy to turn green, and then went inside.

As rooms went, it was pretty standard. There was a bed positioned against the wall in the middle of the room. Beside it was a simple nightstand with a lamp, remote control, and a phone atop of it. The across the room was taller lamp and a television atop a drawer. To the far left of the room was a mirror hanging over a sink and a counter. The toilet and shower part of the bathroom was separated from the main room with a door. To the far right of the room was the window. It was hidden behind two very thick maroon curtains that were in such disuse they had a coat of dust on them.

"Oh God yes!" Aiden cried, flinging his pack off to the side and promptly collapsing on the bed. He kicked off his shoes and just lay there for a moment, letting his body relish the softness of an actual bed.

After a moment, he physically forced himself to sit up. He pulled out two of his pokeballs and released Brick and Zerk. They looked around curiously upon arrival and Aiden motioned to the room, grinning madly. "This is where we're staying for two days." They looked at him. His grin only widened. "We're not doing anything for two days! No training, no fighting, no traveling..." Aiden trailed off and looked up, noticing the shower for the first time (he'd been so absorbed with the bed when he first came in). "This just keeps getting better and better!" he exclaimed, leaping to his feet. He unhooked his belt (where Shade, Rae, and Taste were currently stationed) and set it down next to his pack before making a mad dash for the bathroom.

Brick and Zerk looked at each other, Aiden gave a shout of delight from within the bathroom, and shrugged. They'd never seen him so happy. Suddenly, Aiden's head poked back out. "Oh, uhh, make yourselves at home," he said quickly, and then disappeared back into the bathroom.

((XD!! Stop it, Aiden's scaring me. By the way, unless you really want me to know the details in this magical aspect of Aiden's life, this post is as far as my modly eye is willing to follow Aiden into the bathroom. Meet me outside.))

The bathroom consisted of a toilet and a towel rack suspended above the white fixture. There was also a shower/tub combo taking up most of the room. In an empty corner of the room sat a trash can.

(("Then Aiden ripped off his shirt, exposing his incredibly ripped body before making a manly leap into the tub where he slowly soaped up his hands and caressed his...*record scratches*))

Aiden took the longest shower. Ever. He had found, not that it really came as a surprise, that he smelled like crap. But not showering for a few weeks tended to do that too you.

Afterwards, he walked out of the bathroom, hair still wet and sticking to his forehead, and drops of water still sliding off his now boiled red body. He puts his hands on his hips and gave a mighty sigh.

Refreshed!

Something was akward. Something wasn't quite right... He blinked.

"...Hey guys..."

Brick and Zerk were staring at him.

He grinned weakly, covered up as best he could, and then leaped back into the bathroom, groping around for a robe or a towel.

((You know what I meant! Clothed, dammit! Meet me outside clothed!))

Zerk blinked. Brick whined loudly and covered her eyes. As much as she loved Aiden and was faithful to him, there were just parts of her trainer that she didn't want to see. There were plenty of large towels back in the bathroom, along with a single white bathrobe hanging on the opposite side of the door.

Aiden snatched the robe and quickly put it on, tying the front together loosely. He walked back out, scowling.

"Oh come on. I'm not that bad, am I?"

He leaped back onto the bed, arms folded behind his head. He got into a comfertable position and leaned over, reaching around blindly in his pack, until he pulled out his Pokedex. He looked at it curiously. It was smooth, sleek and red. He hadn't really ever given it much thought, only using it to check the levels of a few pokemon. Now that he had some free time, he flipped open the little device and scrolled through its features.

The PokeDEX's main menu had a few features, actually. It listed them all quite nicely for Aiden to see.

- Detailed Analysis (Habitat, Preferred Foods, etc.)
- Trainer History (Search All Databases)
- Games
- Customize PokeDEX

He looked through the list, finally deciding to scroll down to "Customize PokeDEX" and go there first.

He looked up from his mechanical fiddling to see what Brick and Zerk were doing. They were both just sitting there, watching him.

"Come on, guys. Relax. Loosen up," he said with a laugh.

Zerk continued to stand there, as did Brick. Considering they'd just spent a great deal of time outside and battling pokemon, their definition of "relax" was basically "sleep, and occasionally stand guard while your trainer sleeps." But Aiden wasn't sleeping, so they had no one to watch over. Even Brick, who had been in Professor Willow's lab and was at least partially familiar with humans, had been out and fighting so much that she really looked out of her element here.

Aiden shurgged. "You're loss."

Aiden blinked at the selection. He didn't really care, but now that he thought about it, he was getting a little tired of the constant monotone of the PokeDEX's rambling mechanical voice.

Jake sounded a little like Aiden and, almost as if proving it, Aiden scowled after reading his description.

Eventually he'd narrowed it down to Anna, Apple, and Marvin. Curious about Anna's, he scrolled down and selected her and then pointed the Pokedex at Brick and Zerk experimentally.

((Well, I had fun. The hard part was making it slightly more appropriate for the forums.))

Instead of the normal, monotone voice of the PokeDEX, from it came a far more natural-sounding woman's voice, though low and sounding like it was far more interested in Aiden himself.

Mmm, you own these two already, don't you? That's incredible, the PokeDEX moaned. Sandshrew. This ground-type pokemon's really got a taste for surprises. It'll hide in its burrow, and when that poor, innocent prey thinks it's all alone, Sandshrew will take it back down to its lair and--heh-heh--rough it up a little. Sandshrews are also masters at playing hard to get. If one Defense Curls up into its protective ball, it can absorb damage from falls... And the advances of other big, bad pokemon.

This Sandshrew is... Female, it said with a touch of disappointment. And level 18. She knows Scratch--rawr!--Defense Curl, Sand-Attack, Poison Sting, Rapid Spin, and Swift. One more level and she can speed up those scratches with the Fury Swipes move. Just for those opponents who like it rough.

Brick twitched.

And Nidoran Male. Ooh-la-la! This poison-type may be small, but can use that mighty horn of his to fire poison into his enemies. He also has wonderfully developed ear muscles, so he can swivel them in all directions to pick up sound.

Like I said, this Nidoran is definitely male and level 11. He knows Tackle since he's so forward, Peck, Leer for the ladies, Focus Energy, and Double Kick.

Keep up the good work, sexy. I can't wait until you let me scan again.

Zerk was not looking directly at Aiden or "Anna," but his ear was trained on the machine. He coughed.

((XD!!! Time for Aiden to have more fun with his Pokedex.))

Aiden shifted uncomfertably on the bed and shook his head, a wry smile tugging at his lips despite his best efforts to stay stoic. "Interesting," was all he said, scrolling down now to Apple and selecting it. He leaned over again, wrestled around with his belt a little, and finally managed to unhook a random pokeball from it. He thought it was Shade's, but he wasn't sure. He released whoever was inside and then pointed his newly adjusted Pokedex at it.

It was indeed Shade. The Gastly seemed to have calmed down some since Aiden had seen him last.

Hey, awesome, that's a Gastly! It's a ghost and poison-type. Hey... Hey. You know what you should do? Just... Stick your head inside of a Gastly for like ten seconds and then take your head back out. Then, stick it back in for twenty. Keep on doing it and increase it by ten seconds. Best. High. Ever. It's a pretty nice way to run a drug business too--one of the biggest crime lords of Johto got his start in the Gastly-sniffing business.

Might die though or lose a couple brain cells if you get high off of them though. See, Gastlys can wrap themselves around a target and suffocate 'em to death. Them being pure gas and all. Plus since they're ghosts, they can slip through walls and fly. Whee!

This Gastly's male and level 11. He knows this freaky-deaky paralyzing Lick move, Hypnosis, Spite, and Mean Look.

By the way, why not ask your Gastly what kind of pokemon he used to be before he died?

Aiden stared at the Pokedex, or Apple, or whatever-- he didn't even know what to call it now-- and then up at Shade. Gastly sniffing high ignored, he had no idea Gastly's were the souls or whatever of dead pokemon!

Shade returned his glare semi-boredly.

Even if it was a bit farfetched, it was worth a shot...

"Shade..." he said slowly, and unsurely, "what pokemon were you? Before you, ahh, died?"

Shade narrowed his eyes at Aiden. Without making a noise, he turned away and drifted off to go examine a random part of room.

Brick had since grabbed the remote. She didn't know what it was for since she wasn't even attempting to point it at the television. Instead, she and Zerk were just examining it, with Brick methodically pushing buttons from the bottom of the remote. The tiny words above each button held no significance to her or Zerk, who really had nothing else to do but watch Brick fiddle with the device.

"Err, wrong thing to ask then?" Aiden asked to no one in particular, shrugging. Although Shade's silence had spiked his curiousity, Aiden let it go for the time being. Maybe Shade used to be a Chansey? Or a Togetic or something else cute and fluffy.

Aiden scrolled down next to Marvin and selected it. He reached down to grapple with his belt again, finally suceeding in pulling out a pokeball. He released either Taste or Rae and pointed the Marvin pokedex at them.

This time, it was Taste. The room instantly began to smell bad as living sludge settled on the carpet. Room service was going to have fun cleaning that up.

A lucky push of the remote got the television working, though the volume was so low that only Zerk could pick it up. It was some random infomercial featuring jewelry, but all of Aiden's pokemon were interested in the glowing box regardless of what was on screen.

The PokeDEX sighed. Oh. You have a Grimer. That's... Pretty disgusting. This poison-type pokemon's commonly found in waste-processing plants and sewers, like the place I was probably created. There they drink up on filthy water and polluted sludge. Grimers smell terrible, but the germs on it are worse. If a Grimer slides over the ground, no life will ever be able to grow there again. Especially not flowers.

That might have made be happy if I possessed the ability to feel joy. But yes, this Grimer is male and level 16. He knows Pound, Poison Gas, Harden, Mud-Slap, Sludge, and Disable.

...wait, you already caught it. Here I am, brain the size of an entire database, and I'm here restating information you already know. I don't suppose you have any other ways of making me wish my battery died out forever, do you? Go watch your infomercial.

Aiden stared at it. It knew there was an infomercial on? "Freaky..." he muttered. He recalled Taste before the Grimer could completely stink up the room and scrolled back up to Anna, selected her, and then went back to the main menu.

He stifled a laugh at Brick and Zerk's fascination with the TV and then went to Trainer Database.

((Aiden chose Anna. That's either beautiful or just plain amusing. ^^))

"...you came back! Hold me tight, big boy," Aiden's PokeDEX purred, and said no more so Aiden could access the database.

Taste abruptly twisted in Aiden's direction at the sound of Anna. "Grimah!" he demanded and looked around for the source of the voice.

On Anna's screen was a prompt.