PLEASE READ: I'm still accepting OCs, and could use some more. Gender is not an issue, but please send me your characters in PM ONLY. If I choose to accept characters submitted by review, my story could get REMOVED. I am not making exceptions, but if you have sent me a character through review, and then send it to me through PM, I'll still accept it. Someone has already done that after realizing their mistake.

And on another note, in referring to OCs, I must say I find the process of seeing the characters you submit an exciting process. I am always so thrilled to see people entrusting their creations in me.

For those of you who have submitted characters through PM and have yet to see them, sorry for the wait, they'll get in.

"Good morning to you, Wickins."

Davion took a moment to depart from his slumber; the zangoose that was curled around his head yawned widely, blinked several times, and then narrowed its eyes. The growlithe curled under the blond's arm and nuzzled its head further into his chest. The canine didn't want to awaken. Davion moaned and grunted as he propped himself up, careful not to disturb the growlithe.

"Are these two pokemon yours?"

Davion blearily blinked and stared up at the man who had entered his room. A large man over six feet in height lumbered over his bed. Davion shifted himself; Ginji leapt off the bed, while Jared, the zangoose, shimmied away to the head of the bed. The red headed man's crew cut only added to the brawly man's appearance. The grim scowl certainly didn't help, either.

"I asked you a question, Wickins."

Davion sat to full height, not bothering to cover up when the covers fell aside slightly, not showing privates, but making it very clear he wore no clothes. The lumbering man took a step back in surprise, but otherwise made no indication that he noticed.

"Yeah…?"

"I am going to have to assume that you were unaware that pokemon are not allowed in this hotel. Otherwise you're going to be written up for yet another offense, which is not looking too good. Not even twenty-four hours and you have a second offense." The man folded his arms over his chest. "Start talking."

"Hmm …mmmnnn.." Davion rubbed his eye as he glanced at his pokemon, warily eyeing the stranger. "I … wasn't informed. Thought it was only okay at the airport, were there signs or - ?"

"There's a bold one at the front gate: no pokemon." At Davion's incredulous expression, the man added. "For those with allergies, pokemon are not allowed. Also, this is a place of peace, and we don't wish to tempt trainers to break into battle." His brown eyes narrowed. "It's common courtesy to respect a hotel's wishes, especially one kind enough to give us a discount for holding so many students here."

The large man leaned back expectantly. Davion looked about himself, then at his pokemon. Ginji uttered a little whine. Jared's ears twitched in displeasure. He turned back to the mystery man. He stared.

"Don't give me that look! Put your pokemon in their pokeballs and give them to me. They will be relocated to the little farm on the edge of the city." He took note, or perhaps sympathy, of the boy's wary expression, and added: "You can visit them during breaks, and at our next location, you may sleep with them, but for now, and at other hotels where they are not allowed, please abide by the given rules."

Davion literally rolled out of bed, thrusting his head to the side, his body following after. He took the sheets with him to the floor. In the process, he grabbed a hold of the growlithe. The canine wriggled in his grasp, not wanting to leave. The blond leaned forward and offered a soothing kiss on top of his companion's head. The growlithe gave him a reassuring lick on his bruise, before Davion handed the pokemon over to the larger man.

The man took the growlithe, raising a brow. Davion jerked his head at the zangoose, hinting that the critter aught to follow his fellow pokemon. The zangoose grumbled, butted his head affectionately at Davion, and then trotted over to the large man. The two pokemon obeyed, but not without displeasure.

"The two of them don't like pokeballs, just take them as is." His eyebrows furrowed. "Please."

The older man, Jason, relaxed his stance slightly, but did not release his hold. Perhaps it was the apparent wounds on the boy. Or possibly the sudden lonely stance the boy had taken. Or very well it could be the fact that he was in his natural state. Whatever the case was, he had a slight twinge of compassion. He shook his head, but smiled slightly. "They'll be perfectly comfortable, and we're only going to be staying for another day or two, to wait for the rest of the arrivals. It's not like they'll be gone forever. Get a grip," he said playfully.

Davion's expression went blank instantly. He looked away. "Yeah, whatever."

Jason raised an unimpressed brow. "Right, well, say goodbye to these two, and I'll see you downstairs in a couple hours." His eyes traced the blond. "And do have on some proper trousers."

He whipped around, heavy steps accenting his departure.

It was too early in the morning for him to be dealing with naked teens with attitudes.

"This is so stupid." A girl with dyed bright red hair muttered. She handed over two pokeballs scowling. The elderly woman at the desk smiled understandingly, and took them from her. She was not going to berate the girl from not wishing to be parted from her pokemon. The bond between pokemon and their trainers is a special thing that the elder admired greatly.

Grumbling, the girl flashed her pale blue eyes to her male companion. "I'm going to wait outside, alright?" She didn't wait for him to respond; she simply began stalking off.

"Wait, don't go outside. I don't want you wandering off." The older boy called after her. The girl rolled her eyes and slammed the door shut. The boy turned back to the elderly woman and sighed deeply. Penelope Gunders smiled reassuringly at him. He seemed awfully tired.

"Are both you and your sister going on the Ranger Tour?" Penelope struck up some small talk as she took his two pokeballs and inserted them into the reading machine. She was getting their data, and storing it into the machine to keep track. The fact that so many pokemon were being placed under their care meant that they were going to be earning a good portion of money for a bit: she was reasonably in the good mood.

"Yes." The boy admitted. He took off his black square glasses and began to clean the lenses with a handkerchief he had stowed away in his pocket. His large brown eyes squinted to accommodate for his sudden lack of vision.

"Is she your sister?" From the way the girl had dressed, a tight low-cut shirt with shorts, she wouldn't have been too surprised if she were some sort of cal-girl. But teenaged girls these days seemed to wear less and less. The boy pulled out his trainer's card for her to slide through the machine, to verify these pokemon were his. She took note that his name was Nikolai Chepovetsky. The girl had the same last name.

"Little sister." He answered politely. His gaze kept moving to the door that his sister had exited from.

"Aww, are you two excited for the trip. I've met with many young trainers, and have seen them all return here with the happiest of faces. People really grow. It's such an amazing thing to see, really." Penelope smiled. "I wish the program were around when I was younger." She said wistfully.

"Yes, I can understand that." Nikolai said slowly. He twitched his nose as he put his glasses on once more. He continued to wriggle his nostrils afterwards, his neat bowl-cut hair twitching slightly. He was somewhat gangly, automatically pegged as the bookish, indoors type. Especially from the way that he was dressed: a trench coat buttoned up to his neck, whereas most people would have left the last two buttons loose. Poor boy carried himself very tensely.

"Yes, have you met any others yet? That's always the best part: making new friends, that is." At that point she had finished recording his information; she placed the pokeballs on top of the conveyer belt that moved into the next room. There, her husband would transfer the pokemon based on type to different sections of the day care. Each one was treated carefully by the two owners.

The black haired boy paused to consider her question. "Not officially, no. I suspect there may have been a few on our plane ride, but for some reason there was a lot of confusion and we ended up only getting quickly escorted out of the airport by a ranger. It was quite horrid." The boy shuddered for effect. He visibly paled.

The elder woman cooed in sympathy. "Ah, yes, I heard about that." She clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Some trainers were fighting around air planes, I heard. Got right out of the plane and started battling. Cause some disarray."

Nikolai's jaw dropped. "What? How did you hear about that?"

The woman shrugged, but smiled. She liked having his full attention. "The entire port has been talking about it. We get a lot of trainers here, so news travels fast. Especially with the few psychic pokemon we have in our lot." She gestured behind herself. "Quite the frustrating tale."

"No kidding," he grumbled. "We got in at 5:00 am this morning besides of those hooligans." He tugged at some hair on his head, realized what he was doing, then begun to flatten it out, back to its original, slightly curled format.

"Oh, deary, that is early." Penelope pouted. "Must have been a rough flight."

"Yeah, no kidding." He began to slump, before catching himself. "Um, are we about finished here?" He angled his head to attempt to look over the counter. "My sister and I do need to check in…"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The woman waved her hand at him dismissively. "Here, let me just give you your trainer's card." She handed over the item. "Have fun now!" She paused as he began to turn away. "Also, visiting hours are between 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, so if you want to come in to see your pokemon later and hang out with them, you may."

He waved over his shoulder, muttering something about visiting being a good idea.

Chanel Marie could not believe her luck.

She was exceptionally tired, for starters. She had just flown in earlier that morning, and despite being set up in first class, she was unable to get a decent night's sleep. She had been under the impression that she was going to arrive last night, but because of flight delays and cancelations, she was forced to sleep on the plane. Barely. It was pretty much impossible for her to get full rest without being in a proper bed with a soft mattress, blanket and satin pillow.

Airplanes have yet to be efficient enough to provide such necessities.

She then was forced into a van with several others, following some idiot of a ranger who referred to himself as some make-believe animal called 'Bear'. It was during the car ride that she learned she would have to be sharing a room with another. She could have sworn her father had made a call so that she could have her own room, but apparently that was not allowed, for it took away from the 'bonding' experience. To further emphasize the point, her pokemon were then taken from her. Even her precious meowth! The stupid hotel didn't allow for pokemon, so they had to be taken to some stupid day care for the next couple of days. She just knew that they were going to not bathe her pokemon or feed them the correct food. They'd get low class, processed food.

She had requested for an exception to be made for her meowth since it is such a trained darling, but some other ranger got all huffy with her. It was ridiculous how sensitive they were about some silly rules. So some people had allergies; weren't there medicines available to fix that or something? Apparently the normal habitants of the hotel were not aware of this 'new' medical treatment.

The idiot, Bear, suggested they all go down together in the van to drop off their pokemon. He suggested they check out visiting hours as well, but when she noticed the other potential occupants of the automobile to be some stupid albino girl, a gangly boy, and a girl with cheaply dyed red hair, she made a pass. She'd rather walk.

What annoyed her was how quickly the ranger made the decision to just leave without her. She actually was going to have to walk. The jerk!

The fat lady at the front desk had provided her with a map; she was going to get to this stupid farm if it killed her!

It also occurred to her, as she begun trekking through the busy city streets, just which city she was in, and just how much potential shopping she could get done. Department and designer stores passed by her in the dozens, multiple times she would be highly tempted to window shop. She would only be brought out of her fantasies when she would realize the time, and be all the more determined to get to the farm. From what she had studied on the map, it was a good four miles away, and at the pace she was going, would probably take a couple of hours to reach. She hated her current timing.

Twenty minutes into her walk, her feet really began to hurt. Chanel was more than aware that wedged heels were not the best of choices for long distances, but she had been in a rush when leaving her luggage, and hadn't thought to change. Each step was an even greater of a reminder as a shock wave from the souls of her feet up to her knees would flash through her legs. She looked down at her shoes: beautiful two inch, copper in color, with intricate flowers with studs in the middle. The flowers laced together to form a thong for her hot pink toes. The slightly nippy weather did not help her discomfort, either.

With a combination of determination and pure stubbornness, she marched through five blocks before she felt she truly would not be able to walk further. She stumbled slightly into a coffee shop. "Just get myself a brief drink, rest my feet, then I'll be off." She promised herself.

She waltzed up to the cashier, ordering a sweetened coffee, before finding a seat for herself. Chanel found a chair and table by the large window that allowed her view of the street she had come from. She figured if she saw anyone she recognized she could ask for a ride, or perhaps an exchange in shoes. When the latter thought crossed her mind, it occurred to her that she could always buy a pair. She grinned at the thought. It certainly would be an acceptable reason to go shopping.

A pimply boy in a tacky green uniform handed her the coffee she had ordered. She took a sip, nodding him off, and pursed her lips behind the Styrofoam cup. It was rather bland, but what else was she to expect from a cheap place like the one she had decided to take a break in. She muttered a quick "ew" under her breath and swallowed another portion. It was warming, if anything.

The cup was half empty when she carelessly tossed it into the garbage. It was disgusting and she wasn't going to put her stomach through any more ghastly substances. She snatched a napkin, wiping her hands thoroughly. The entire place was totally gross. Why did she even go in there?

"Will you quit following me?"

A very male voice shouted past the walls of the shop. Chanel's attention was brought outside the window where a boy with rare white hair was stomping from the other side of the street. He was glaring vehemently back, clearly at someone on the opposing side. She grinned a bit at him. Thin build he may have, but he was on the handsome side. If she were less tired, perhaps she would be more inclined to introduce herself.

"Well just stay on that fucking side of the road, got it? You piss me off! I'm stuck in this cast for six weeks because of you!"

Apparently whomever he was speaking with had responded.

The number of spectators on the street amused her immensely. For someone who wished to be left alone, he sure was one for the spotlight. She ran her tongue over her top front teeth thoughtfully.

She took note that his gaze was moving toward her general direction, and she realized that his acquaintance should be in her line of sight. She took note of a blond boy whose back was to the store. She recognized immediately that the teen had some money on him: fur trimmed leather jacket and styled denim shorts that came down half way his thighs. Her grin enhanced. He had quite the nice ass. And legs. She then frowned. Shaved legs. Pity if he turned out to be gay. Her vague worry increased when she took note of the double piercing on one of his ears. She couldn't tell from her angle if it was evened out on both sides or not.

"Because you were making the moves on my sister, you fuck!"

How was it that the albino hottie was able to hear the blond when she couldn't hear him when he was a foot away from her? Was the glass that thick or was his hearing that uncanny? Probably the latter since most people seemed to have their attention on him, and it was most disapproving. Especially shouting that last statement. He seemed to realize it, for he flushed slightly and looked away determinedly.

Another comment was made, muffled, but she could tell he said something. Oh, he had such a nice voice. Drawling, almost. She sighed as the other boy whipped around for another retort. His face would most likely be a let down.

"Shut up! You stay away from her for the rest of the tour, got it?"

The blond shrugged noncommittally as he responded with another retort.

Chanel's attention had been caught for another reason, however. The term 'tour', and considering their age group, hinted at the fact that they were possibly a part of the Ranger Tour. Albeit, there may be more tours running about the large city, but somehow, she had an inkling they were all involved.

She briskly walked out of the store, purposely jerking her hips in a figure eight pattern, intercepting the blond boy. She made sure to protrude her chest slightly as she 'bumped' into his chest. She was momentarily shocked to find his chest bare, then incredibly pleased with her luck of coming into contact with nice pectorals and abdomen. With a lowered head, she took a slight step back, adopting an apologetic look.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She gushed. Her fluster became real when she finally saw his face. Absolutely beautiful: windswept hair, opened jacket, a slight flush to his face from the slight chill in the air, breath-taking eyes. He was handsome, strong, most likely wealthy from the jacket he adorned on his broad shoulders. Ignoring the horrid bruising on his jaw, she had possibly just discovered her ideal boyfriend. "It's just, I'm a little lost, you see." She giggled to emphasize on her supposed stupidity. "I'm on my way to this ranch, to visit my precious meowth, because the Ranger Tour I'm on won't allow pokemon in the hotel and, well, I'm lost." She had gone in a complete circle.

The boy in front of her stared at her. Calculating. She shivered involuntarily, then with a slight smile said. "And I'm a little chilled."

He raised a brow, a look saying 'and why are you telling me this, stranger?'

"Oy, you said you're on the Ranger Tour?" She cocked her head to see the albino boy had run toward them. He was lucky he was an attractive guy, or she would have been cross about his interference on their one-on-one time.

"Yes," she smiled at him. Wasn't the idiot going on earlier about not wanting to be near the blond beauty for some reason? She had forgotten why, but it was probably something stupid. "Do you two know something about it?"

His eyes flashed at the mention of 'you two'. "Hn, yes." He looked between the two of them, but his gaze focused on her in finality. He was suspicious about something. Chanel took a slight step back. "I'm on my way to the ranch you were talking about; I know where I'm going, if you are so desperate to get there." She nodded animatedly.

"Yes, I'd really appreciate that." She purred.

"…Right." He gave her a funny look. "Hain." He grunted. She smiled, taking his hand delicately.

"Chanel Marie." She flicked her hair over her shoulder. "And your name?" She blinked her emerald eyes at the blond boy. He took a step toward her.

"Davion." The blond strode over next to Hain, who proceeded to edge away from his companion.

Chanel and Davion. The names sounded so lovely together. Hopefully he has an amazing personality, and he'll be the perfect package. Oh, and is single.

Davion shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking fast paced. She skipped after him, mindful to keep a close distance between the two of them. She was determined to move just as quickly as he was, in multiple terms of the sense. She could feel Hain walking behind them, with a few feet between them.

"So, you're going to go see your pokemon, right?" She smiled at him. "That is so sweet of you. To show that you care about them, I mean. It's cool when a man shows he cares about things he well… cares about." She giggled again, and then looked ahead. It took a surprising amount of energy to look up at him. Particularly when his brown eyes would flicker to her in a stony fashion. "What sort of pokemon do you have with you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Growlithe … zangoose." He muttered. She grinned instantly at his choices. A growlithe, pre-evolved form of an arcanine. Both evolutionary forms have an intimidating air to them in name, particularly the latter. To have one means that it is extremely loyal and brave, determined to fight for its owner. Arcanines, where the canine grows into its regal bones, possessing a magnificent mane; many trainers are in envy of those who own one. The fiery pokemon is a powerful one that requires a good trainer to keep up with it. The zangoose is also a rambunctious one, although a normal type, it is strong with old blood, with an incredible instinct and memory. It will strike its foe without hesitation.

There's a lot you can tell about a person from the pokemon that they train.

"That's so cool." She cooed. "Are you going to evolve your growlithe? I think an arcanine would be amazing."

"Hn, whatever."

She turned to Hain. "What are your pokemon."

He seemed displeased with her question, but answered nonetheless. "Blastoise, scizor, garchomp… and a blissey." He did not seem happy that he responded.

"That's cool; you must have really trained them to get to such high stages, huh?"

"… Yeah." He then turned his attention to Davion. "Hey shithead, it's bad enough I'm walking with you, why're you adding more obnoxious people to the venue?"

Chanel's jaw dropped. How dare he? She was being nice, and here he was, insulting her! She could have very well ignored his ass, but instead she thought she'd include him to avoid a third wheel (also just incase there was a better boyfriend in him, but that's a side note). Instead, he goes ahead and throws it in her face? That asshole! She ought to go and sic her rhydon on him! He'd certainly be singing a different tune then!

As she opened her mouth to defend herself, an arm swung around her shoulders and brought her close to a very warm body. She almost stopped walking in surprise. Davion had embraced her with one arm so that they were walking like an intimate couple! She looked up at him, blushing in wonder. His eyes met her, not warm, but not cold either. She could only assume his physicality was a good thing. He looked over his shoulder and made some sort of expression, or mouthed something to Hain, for he looked away in understanding.

"Ch…! Figures…"

Chanel began to wriggle in Davion's grasp. She was caught between her obvious physical interest and her sudden fascination, as well as her self-preservation to not be labeled as easy. "Um what…?"

He removed his arm after a moment, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Cold?"

Oh, she had said that earlier, hadn't she? Well she was still, of course. But that did not mean that she was entirely willing to be all intimate with him.

"I'll live, though." She stressed.

Davion shrugged before he continued his strut.

Teddy ran her hand through her hair, holding it back from her face. The wind kept blowing strands into her eyes and mouth, tickling her. She did not care for the sensation. The cool breeze had forced her to zip up her jacket. Her gloveless fingers thumbed the zipper regretfully. She had wanted to show off her low-cut shirt.

She nodded vaguely to some people walking by, curious at her appearance. She sighed, and then looked down. She jiggled her foot, eyes on her legs. She looked out, up the road that she and her brother had come from. She could imagine the winding turns and secret passages and short cuts taken to reach their current environment. She pictured perfectly their next location: the hotel.

She hooked her thumbs into the crook of her pants. Her head thumped slightly when contacted with the red wood of the building. Her nose twitched. She exhaled. Her knees shook for a moment before collapsing. She situated herself on the ground.

"I should just leave," she muttered. She looked back to the building she had exited earlier. Nicolai was taking his sweet time. The lady had already said hanging out with their pokemon wasn't possible until later (and she certainly wasn't interested in hanging out for several hours). What could he possibly be up to? So the dumb little minun and plusle were on the cling-y side; did that really mean he had to keep her waiting? When she left, she had intended for him to follow.

She sighed. Her brother was too busy with his nerves to catch on to her social cues.

Teddy looked back up the road again. She wondered if the other inhabitants were awake yet. She was more interested in meeting others her age in the program rather than babysit her pokemon. So she was not going to have them in her possession for a couple of days, it was no big deal.

Nikolai seemed determined to make it a problem.

In the midst of people walking up and down the street, three older teens stood out to her. Most of the townsmen walking about were older, she assumed there was a retirement home some place nearby, and these three were the first of her own age she had seen in a while. Her initial reaction was simply to admire. It was not a bad looking group, each standing out in their own way; an albino boy, skinny, who was walking several steps behind the two in front of him; a girl who was short (at least in comparison to her two companions) and curvy, with long dark hair and a couple of bleached highlights, curiously close to the lead; a blond beauty whose jacket flared open, stomach complimented by the wind. The red head decided she did not mind the weather so much anymore.

Her admirations morphed into surprised delight when the trio made a quick scan of the street for ongoing cars, cyclists, and pokemon, before running across toward her.

"Not so fast, Davion! These shoes are being such a pain!"

"Then why are you wearing them?"

"Because they pull this outfit together, obviously – and I wasn't talking to you!"

The blond escaped the bickering of the others, sauntering up to her with purpose, and then past, into the building. His eyes flickered to her for a fleeting moment as he opened the door. She offered a smile, and he looked away as he reached for the door –

"Teddy-!"

A sounding bang resonated across the street. The handsome blond stumbled back, clutching his upper chest, coughing. Nikolai emerged: she had never seen his large eyes get so big. The girl shrieked and ran to the blond's side. The albino doubled over laughing. She hadn't realized she had jumped up as well until the blond nudged away from her grasp slightly.

"I am so, so sorry. Are you alright? That was completely my fault! I should have been – oh my gosh! Do you have a heart condition? Asthma – ?"

"I'm fine," was the gruff reply. He shook away from the little crowd that had accumulated around him. He shook his head, unconsciously rubbing where he had been hit. His attention turned to her brother: brows lowered into a slant, lips thinned into a line of disapproval, pupils shrank considerably, and even she shuddered from his intense glare. He shoved past the frozen Nikolai.

Teddy figured he had more important business with the old woman than calming the nerves of her idiot brother.

Wow. Davion is sure getting a lot more abuse than I had originally intended. Poor guy. And I did not even reach the point that I had originally wished with this chapter, yet it is longer than the previous. Go figure.

New characters:

Nikolai Chepovetsy/Theodora "Teddy" Chepovetsy – Fayth in Music

Jason O'Brien – Yajirobewillkillyou

Chanel Marie – Lolli-S