Finally arrived [Open!]

[Grace Blum]

Grace’s face brightened as soon as the city appeared over the horizon. Seeing it so clear ahead of her, rather than a random shape on her map was much more encouraging. Exactly what her tired feet needed after the long day. Monte was also tired after the trek, so Grace had let him rest in his Pokeball for the time being.

Her father raised an eyebrow when she announced she was walking to Maresias, rather than taking a boat. She loved boats and the thrill of sailing, and the walk from Miliumis was more than what she was used too. However, she told him firmly that Monte and herself needed training, and that she hadn’t had a chance to use her new walking boots. If she was scared of the easy route, the desert would be absolutely unbearable. So after the quicker boat journey to Miliumis, she quickly headed out the city and on her way.

Now that she was almost at her destination, she wasn’t sure if she regretted it or not. The training had been valuable, and she learned a lesson about breaking in new shoes. The only problem was now her feet were aching. Considering how much she paid for the boots, Grace was disappointed. So when she actually reached the city, the first thing she did was head to an acceptable looking outdoor café to rest her legs.

Grace hung her coat on the back of her chair and placed her bag underneath the table, before attempting to stretch discreetly and elegantly. She reached into her pocket and took out Monte’s Pokeball, before releasing him at her feet. Her usual serious face uplifted at the Meowth, who replied with an eager, “Meowth!”

“It’s good to finally reach here, isn’t it?” She turned to glance over her surroundings, a clear view of the sea and the city. The sea breeze drifted through her hair, and all of a sudden she didn’t seem far from home. But there was a key difference in reputation, which had her holding her bag tightly between her ankles underneath the table.

Returning her gaze to the Pokemon, Grace’s expression turned more serious. “It’s good to take a break, but we’ll need to keep moving,” she said as she pulled out her map. Aerei was her goal, circled in red, but she knew that Monte and herself were nowhere near ready for it’s contests. Maresias was certainly more central then Oroya, so she had much more options now that she was here. Her finger trailed over the map, before Monte clearly announced he was hungry by standing on her foot. Which already hurt. Grace motioned over a waiter to order something, hoping the seafood here was nice.

(I’m not entirely sure that I'm doing it right, but any of you folks want to bother Monaco here? D: Or even steal her bag?)

[Antonio Fernandez Carriedo]

((Sorry there, Monaco. Antonio's not much into the stealing business (at least not anymore), but his Pokemon is definitely in the pretty lady business! And you definitely fit the bill. :D))

Ay. He really should have never left that Squirtle out of his sight.

Antonio had only wanted that Felicidad enjoy Maresias, the beautiful city by the sea, caressed by the salty sea breeze. Thinking about it, it wasn't too different from his Miliumis. He had thought maybe Felicidad missed the familiarities of home: the hustle and bustle, the towering buildings, the...pretty girls. Well, pretty as according to Felicidad. Personally, Antonio was a little homesick, too, but not for all the reasons that his Pokemon friend was. They had been traveling for a while without seeing a city like this, so really, it would have been a crime for him not to let his Pokemon enjoy it, too.

So they had been meandering along the streets, absorbing the sights and drifting down the lane of nostalgia, until Felicidad spotted something shiny. Something gold. Something that looked like the shiny gold off the top of a Meowth's head. And Felicidad bolted right after it. Antonio didn't notice it until a few seconds later, and by then, it was too late. Felicidad had disappeared into the crowds.

Presently, Antonio brain was mired in worry as he sat on a bench round the corner of some upscale café, chin in hand as he wondered exactly how he was going to find his precious Squirtle again.

[Grace Blum]

(Aww, I'm sure she hides the most marvellous of things in there. Sadly, I don't think she's in the squirtle business. D: )

After ordering her food Grace gently nudged Monte off of her foot. "You know," she commented as the Pokemon returned from behind the tablecloth, "I'm sure the staff will not appreciate you running about here." Monte didn't seem guilty about this at all, but returned her gaze curiously. She knew what it was like on the other side of the argument, and contemplated returning the Pokemon to his Pokeball. "As long as you stay here and aren't a bother, we should be fine," she told him firmly, and the Pokemon repiled with a "Meowth".

As Grace raised her head from looking down at the Pokemon, something caught her eye. Something blue and that was rushing straight towards her table. Monte, sensing Grace's shock turned to see.

And instinctively, the Meowth's fur raised on end as it saw in oncoming threat. Grace barely realised what was happening before her Pokemon launched itself towards the blue thing.

Grace's eyes widened, as Monte rushed away from the table. She couldn't exactly race after him without creating an embarrasment. But she couldn't allow Monte to attack the other Pokemon. After a long second of hesitation, she firmly grabbed Monte's Pokeball and hurriedly chased after him.

[Antonio Fernandez Carriedo]

((Haha! Well that's great that they don't have common interests, because that creates even more lulz and general chaos!))

Antonio sighed. He really hoped that his Pokemon hadn't gotten into too much trouble. Though if he were to be honest, he really hoped Felicidad hadn't gone out and caused too much trouble. Antonio really should have known. He should have known that mischievous glint that Felicidad had in his eyes as they were trotting down the main avenue that cut right through the busiest part of town. They had been together far too long for Antonio to not notice.

Too bad Antonio was unaware of the trouble that was brewing behind the walls that were to the back of him.

The Squirtle in question had actually tailed the Meowth in interest of getting its owner's attention. While he hadn't failed in doing that, Felicidad had caught the attention of her Meowth, who had sprinted straight at him. Apparently, he never noticed the Meowth from under the table. So in order to prevent getting mauled, Felicidad did the only thing he could do: run.

With a panicked "Squirtle...!" He dove under the nearest table, skirting around the many diners and waiters carrying soups and sandwiches, stirring up ladies and squeak and scream and the men become flustered. But that went unnoticed, because the only thing on the Pokemon's mind was to not get withing reach of that Meowth's claws.

[Grace Blum]

Monte was blind to anything but his goal, which was now hurrying away. He nimbly ducked and dodged from diner's feet, falling objects and stumbling waiters, all of which had created a maze for the Pokemon to reach his goal. As he ran, Grace could hear a hullabaloo of screams, shouts and dropped plates.

And her face turned crimson.

A combination of shock, anger and embarrassment welled up inside of her, as she mentally noted to leave behind a large tip. She sped up her pursuit of her Pokemon, hoping the mess it left behind him would allow her to escape unnoticed.

Meanwhile, her Pokemon in question had identified it's prey, a Squirtle based on it's call and scent, and continued it's chase. And this particular Squirtle was evidentially after his food, based on how it was running at their table before. Monte had decided to teach it a lesson. With his claws. "Meowth!" was his battle cry, with a running leap towards the turtle Pokemon.

[Antonio Fernandez Carriedo]

Screeching and the crashing sound of plates snapped Antonio from his sulking.

He turned in the direction of the noise, its source being some kind of commotion taking place. From what he could see, the patrons were trying avoid something scurrying around on the ground, and said things scurrying was causing waiters to trip, and...and was that a bowl of soup he just saw sailing through the air?

In the midst, he heard a shrill shriek, clear enough for him to hear from way outside, "Get this Squirtle out of here!"

Oh god. Antonio's blood ran cold. It couldn't be. He sprinted to the entrance of the eatery, and was flabbergasted. What was once a refined, upscale place for people to chat and eat was now a big, fine mess. And sure enough, right in the center of it: Felicidad, who was, strange enough, being chased by a Meowth.

But after the initial shock, he swiftly reached for Felicidad's pokeball to stop him from creating more chaos, but some lady rammed her rear end to his side, causing him to drop the ball. It was kicked and rolled off underneath some table.

With no time to lose, Antonio spotted some handbag underneath a table. He dove for it, and launched himself at his Pokemon, trapping it underneath the bag.

It struggled a bit, and owner of the bag might be a little angry, and not to mention there was now a Meowth clawing at his head, but at least the cause of this was now caught.

....He hoped the fact that he caught it might lessen the punishment coming soon afterwards.

[Grace Blum]

Grace feet ached as she attemped to leap over fallen plates and bowls, while dodging runaway carts that were no longer displaying lovely desserts. Said desserts however were now displayed on the clothes and faces of Grace's fellow customers. Well, she probably wouldn't be a customer for much longer.

As she weaved around another waiter, Grace saw her Pokemon disappear underneath a table. But the table was not just any table, it was her own. Which was still unspoilt, she noted. "Monte, when I ca-"

But then, something tugged on her foot. A shoe lace, a table leg or perhaps a fallen piece of crockery caused Grace to fall towards her table, with a rather loud yelp. Thankfully, her hands reached out to stop her fall, even if Monte's Pokeball flew off the process.

Now ignoring the pain of her hands (which didn't quite compare to the dull throb of her feet), she looked up to underneath the tablecloth.

Monte was there, definitely, but he wasn't quite alone. He was accompanied by a brown haired man. Or on his head to be more precise. "Monte!" Grace reached out to pull the Pokemon off the man's head, but then realised what he was holding. "Thief!" Exasperated, this came out as a shriek as her hands redirected from Monte to retreiving her bag. She attempted to claw at his grip, trying to pull the bag away.

[Antonio Fernandez Carriedo]

"W-wait! I'm sorry, miss, I-- Please! Stop-- you don't want him getting free!"

Those words only came out as muffles underneath the fur of the Meowth half on his face.

Antonio was just about to grab a firm grip of his Pokemon's rounded tail, until a girl madly pulled on the bag, shouting something about a thief. Antonio blanched. He was no thief! He had to do some quick-action manoeuvrings so that the café didn't further fall into shambles. He had honest intentions, thieves didn't have that, right? And Felicidad could be an unruly thing, sometimes even requiring drastic measures to subdue, though he found this a little hard to convince the young lady, especially when a Meowth was painfully digging its claws and dragging it down his cheek.

But while Antonio and the young woman struggled for control of the bag, the Squirtle trapped in it struggled for freedom, and the tug war bought him just right amount of time to right himself back up again and spring himself not on his trainer, who seemed very occupied by another Pokemon right at the minute, but at the pretty lady trainer.

With a gleeful cry, he clung himself right onto her face.

[Grace Blum]

Grace was very much unwilling to let all her possessions be stolen so early into her journey, or even at all, so she kept her grip tight. She knew she was evidently weaker than whoever this man was, but the every loyal Monte was distracting him. Monte was much smarter than she gave him credit for, she pondered, obviously noticing this thief much before her.

He was shouting something now, and Grace seemed to catch some of it, being less than a foot away. "What? Who gettin-" She was cut off by a Squirtle intercepting her face.

Her cries were muffled as she lost her grip on her bag to flail about underneath the table, before she managed to reach the Pokemon eagerly clinging to her face. Pulling the thing away was harder then she imagined, and just before she thought she had it off, something else flung itself at her face.

Monte was rather fond of Grace, definitely fond enough to stand up to that creature - that Squirtle that annoyed him before too! - attacking his master's face. His method of doing so, was not really not of which she approved - halting his attack of the brown-haired guy to launch himself (for the second time) on the Squirtle.

Grace's head flew back on the impact, before the sudden increase in weight caused it to plummet forward towards the ground again. Her shrieks meanwhile, were pretty much useless.

[Elise Peeters]

"Arthur, I hate it here!" Elise whined into her phone. "What if my brother sees me or something? They could have stationed me anywhere else! Anywhere else but here! I mean, part of the reason I joined the International Police was so I could get our there and experience the world, you know? And they send me right back to my hometown and--And I really want nothing more than a beer and some chocolate!"

Okay, so maybe she was being a bit of a baby...And she knew for a fact that Arthur wasn't even really listening to her anymore, but still! And it wasn't as if they needed her for any--What the hell is all that noise?

Hanging up (because she was certain Arthur had nearly fifteen minutes ago), she looked behind her to find a scene of mass destruction that had gone unnoticed by her due to her utter despair at being back in town. Tables had been flipped over, food littered the floor, and it looked like--HEY! Was that guy trying to steal that girl's bag?!

"Nobody move!" Elise suddenly shouted. "This is a member of the International Police speaking!"

Taking out the pokeball that held her partner, she ran towards the duo. It appeared that a squirtle and a meowth were the ones to blame for the fracas, but it could have been a diversion gone wrong for the tan guy who still held the girl's bag in his hands.

"Go! Lomigo!" she released her pokemon, a Lotad. "Quick! Use Astonish on those pokemon!"

"Lotad!" her cheerful partner cried, looking fierce and ready to battle.

She waited.

And waited.

Still waiting for him to attack...

"...Why don't you ever help me out when we're in situations like this? You're the reason they all laugh at me, you know..." Elise sighed and wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball, but there was no time for that. The girl had just fallen to the ground, but the guy still had her bag! Agh, what to do!

She went for the guy, knocking the bag out of his hands and towards her Lotad ('Please be useful and at least seem intimidating and guard this.') before reaching for the girl and trying to pull the two pokemon apart and off of the poor girl.

(OOC: Long introduction post is long...I promise they won't be like that anymore!)

[Grace Blum]

((OOC: Belgium! <3))

Grace was meanwhile still attempting to remove the two Pokemon from her face. Over the mess, she could here shouting, the one clear word being "Police", which was unsurprising. But she hadn't expected someone to grab her shoulder and to pull the two Pokemon from her face.

She somehow stumbled to her feet after having the two Pokemon removed, and then subconciously fixed her appearance. A quick hand through her hair, then straightening her glasses, brushing off the dust and standing up straight before she orientated herself. She quickly swooped Monte into her arms before he launched himself at the Squirtle again.

Ignoring the squirming Pokemon in her arms, Grace turned to face the newcomer. Grace frowned, she didn't look like a policewoman, in fact girl couldn't possibly be much older than her...

"Miss, thank you for your help." Grace's expression was stoic, but her mind was whirling. She couldn't get a criminal record, she had just left home! If only she was a celebrity... Back at home, her parents let the rich and famous trash their hotel rooms as long as they got a nice cheque afterwards. It wasn't even her fault... "You are the policewoman? You see it simply wasn't my fault, that man tried to-" Grace stopped. Where was her bag? He certainly wasn't holding it...

"My bag!" A quick glance round, and there it was, with some Pokemon which was clearly attempting to be scary. Grace held back a mocking laugh to ask the fair-haired girl; "Is that Lotad your Pokemon?"

[Elise Peeters]

(OOC: Haha~! Monaco! <3)

"Is that Lotad your Pokemon?"

Elise looked back at her Lotad, who had not moved since his utter failure earlier. He was still in that same, determined stance, the bag at his side. Sure, he looked...kinda...fierce, she supposed...But he couldn't fool anyone. She was surprised the guy and his Squirtle hadn't made a grab for the girl's bag yet.

"Yeah..." she sighed, looking at her Pokemon with a slightly disappointed smile. "That's my Lotad...He looks stupid, but when he finally evolves and becomes a Lombre, I'm sure he'll be more useful!"

Elise would never admit to the desperate edge in her voice, almost as if she was trying to convince herself.

The blond then remembered she had a job to do, and rounded on the tan man and his Pokemon.

"Hey! What's the big idea here, anyway? I saw the whole thing! You were trying to steal this young woman's bag!" Okay, so she really hadn't seen anything until the very end...But still! "Sir, I may have to take you in for questioning."

[Grace Blum]

((OOC: Spain? D: I hope everything's alright as they haven't posted for a while. Monaco is so charming here. xD))

"I'm sure he will." Grace was doubtful of this, but she knew dead down her own Pokemon - the Meowth who was still struggling in her arms - wasn't exactly the best display of Pokemon intelligence. Monte was still determined to get at the Squirtle for some reason - Grace held tight and knew she'd have to scold him later for it. She comforted herself with the smug knowledge that her Pokemon would never be that bad.

So overall, this made the policewoman's impression not exactly brilliant. Of course Grace never voiced these concerns, as this woman was the one about to arrest her thief.

"His Pokemon was trained to distract us, you saw how it ruined the restaurant didn't you? It's not my fault Monte reacted so violently, considering how the Squirtle also attacked my face." Grace's hand drifted over the red marks the on her skin when it attached itself to her face. This would certainly prove her innocence, wouldn't it? The policewoman was already on her side it seemed.

But somewhere, underneath her cold exterior, strung a pang of guilt. The restaurant was trashed and she knew first hand how annoying the cleaning up process afterwards was, the least she could do is leave behind a gracious cheque of her own. "I will help pay for the mess though."

[Antonio Fernandez Carriedo]

((Ah! I'm so sorry!! orz I just got caught up in a few things over the summer (i.e. boot camp college orientation *is still disgruntled*). But I'm back, and yay Belgium!!))

Now, nobody had ever complimented Antonio for being the most clever thing on the block, but how in the world did he get himself into this mess? He is just this close to be taken into the city police station, and all he meant to do was to stop this mess! Judging by how two women, especially the policewoman, was rounding up on him, damage control was going to be a lot more than a simple apology.

Antonio threw his hands in the air, though he wasn't too sure if it was to display his non-malicious intent or if it was because it was what criminals do once they were caught.

"Wait a second! I wasn't trying to steal your bag, it was--"

He felt a nudge at his leg, and looked down to find the true culprit: his Squirtle, who was eying the policewoman with a bit of fear, but a whole lot of guilt. Antonio grimaced down at slightly trembling Pokemon. Troublesome as ever. But Felicidad was still his trusty friend, and he didn't know if there was some Pokemon time-out to keep unruly ones as him, but he wasn't going to let him take all the blame.

"It was my fault! I should have kept a better eye on him," Antonio chuckle sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "But you have to believe me! I wasn't trying to steal anything!" He took his eyes off the stern-faced officer to regard the mess around him. If he had ever planned to dine there at any time, he'd better kiss those thoughts good-bye.

"And I'll try my best to repay those damages!" He thought of the money pouch he kept on him at all times. It wasn't too deep, and reparations might force him to reach further into it than he probably could. "Look, even he'll help!" Antonio hastily added, lifting up the Pokemon clinging to his pants leg as it kicked struggled, panicking.

Would that be enough to keep them out of jail?

[Elise Peeters]

(Aw, it's okay Spain! RL gets in the way! We gotcha~!)

"Eheh..." Elise grinned sheepishly, glad that somebody had agreed her Pokemon could only become wiser once it evolved.

Then she remembered she had to get back to business once the woman said, "His Pokemon was trained to distract us, you saw how it ruined the restaurant didn't you? It's not my fault Monte reacted so violently, considering how the Squirtle also attacked my face."

And even though the woman offered to help pay for the damages, she couldn't let that crook get off so easy.

Trying her best to look intimidating and in control of the situation, Elise approached the man, hoping her Lotad wouldn't do anything to potentially embarrass her.

For a second, it looked like he was going to blame his Pokemon, but at the last second he took the blame and offered to pay, insisting he had never been after anyone else's possessions.

Elise tried to stay focused and ignore her inner wishes to make everyone happy. That look on his face just didn't suit him, but at the same time the woman didn't look happy either and probably wouldn't be if she didn't do something...Oh, but he looked really sorry!

"Oh...Yes...Well! J-just keep an eye on him from now on. Look, I'm not gonna arrest you or give you a ticket or anything...Just make sure you pay the damages, okay? Since your pokemon started the problem, I'd say you paying for the majority of the damages is in order," she coughed into her hand. "And if you don't have the money, then there's no other option other than to work it off. Fair deal?"

Too soft. She was still too damn soft...

Elise turned to the woman,"Miss, since you offered and this guy doesn't look like he has much, please pay for however much you see fit."

She wasn't entirely sure if this was her place to settle such an argument, but it was certainly better than more chaos, right?

Elise sighed. She could really go for some chocolate right about now...