farawayplace | Enter: Ultern's Pokemon Professor!

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Enter: Ultern's Pokemon Professor!

EARLY MORNING - THE BANYAN RESIDENCE
[There's a welcoming scent of coffee wafting through the air. It seems to be coming from the lone home in the middle of the route as the windows are left open. The sun was only starting to rise, painting the surrounding scenery with reds and oranges, as the waves create a gentle splashing sound.

The person within the home seemed to not be big on security, as the front door at the front deck of the home was propped wide open with a rocking chair. Unsurprisingly there's a Pokemon perched on top of it--a yellow skinned Chikorita that could be easily mistaken for a shiny one, if it weren't for the fact its leaf was green. Perhaps it was there to soak up the light from the rising sun.

Not soon after, a man--barefoot, and not quite yet dressed for the day will step out onto the deck with a mug of coffee in hand.]

Ah, another wonderful morning. Don't ya think, Chikorita?

[The professor grinned wide while taking in the seaside view.]

MORNING - OUT IN THE YARD
[You know what's the best thing to do in the mornings? GARDENING!

The Pokemon Professor of this region--Professor Banyan is seen with his signature sunglasses, and straw hat already on along with a pair of gardening gloves. His iconic white lab coat is nowhere to be seen on his person so it wouldn't be a surprise if anyone mistook him as some ordinary gardener.

He's watering the flowers, and other plants in the yard (that wasn't fenced off) before turning his attention to the grass type Pokemon who congregated around him. He has a Sprinklotad in hand as he smiled wide.]

Now don't push! I've got plenty of water for everyone!

AFTERNOON - SEASIDE TRAIL
[Professor Banyan, the Pokemon Professor of this region will be out and about on the beach. He could be find doing the following:

►Sitting on the beach, seemingly relaxing. Who wouldn't want to take a moment to kick back and soak up the sun when the weather is nice and sunny? For whatever reason there's a Staryu that's laying right next to him, no doubt also sunbathing.

►Taking notes of the surrounding Pokemon! He has a notepad in hand, with his gaze set on a pair of Tentacool happily swaying along with the waves, to a nearby Sandygast that sat on the sand where a curious little Pikachu with brown paws, and a light colored belly sniffed at it.

In fact he might even approach any nearby Trainer who had their Pokemon out of their Pokeball with his eyes lighting up with intrigue and interest despite being hidden behind his sunglasses.

►Out training or really, playing with his Pokemon as Professor Banyan, still out on the sandy beach is now seen with a trio of Pokemon - a yellow skinned Chikorita, the brown pawed, light colored belly Pikachu, and Staryu. There’s a confident smirk on his face.]

Alright, are you three ready?

[He’s holding what’s clearly a sparkly ball in his hand.]

The one to get this the fastest wins! Here goes!

[He’ll be seen winding up his left arm before throwing the ball as far as he could across the beach. In an instant Pikachu and Chikorita dashed through the sand leaving Banyan alone with Staryu. Noticing this, he chuckled before kneeling next to Staryu to place a hand upon it.]

They’re getting faster, aren’t they?

(🌺Feel free to choose any of the prompts to interact with Professor Banyan! He's more than happy to upgrade any trainer's Pokedex, or even hand one out to those who ask!🌺)

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Among the grass Pokemon that gather around Professor Banyan, there's one Meganium who doesn't quite belong in the crowd, sitting there with an expectant smile.

Somewhere in the distance, you can hear a kid shouting:

"Caaaarn! Where'd you go?"

The Meganium glances back, then decides to ignore the voice and stay right here.

"Oh? Looks like we've got a new friend, everyone." Professor Banyan didn't seem bothered in the slightest by the new face among the crowd of grass types.

"Chikochiko!" The different colored Chikorita who was standing next to Professor Banyan spoke up while waving his leaf in greeting to Carn. It seemed he was delighted in having a new guest over.

The Professor meanwhile began to hum as he happily sprinkled water with the Sprinklotad on Carn, and the surrounding grass types. It's however at the sound of a young child did some of them immediately rushed to hide. A blue flower Floette chose to take cover under the Professor's straw hat, while a Hoppip moved to hide directly behind him. Giving pause to his watering Professor Banyan glanced over in the direction of the voice.

Carn greets Professor Banyan cheerfully. Then, noticing Chikorita, he waves his antennae in greeting, before leaning over to sniff at his leaf, also in greeting. How nostalgic. Was I also this yellow back then, Carn wonders, before deciding he probably was. There's a yellow Chikorita right there, so Chikoritas are probably usually yellow. Simple as that.

Meanwhile, Gold's wandering around, looking for his Pokemon after he'd ran off following a battle.

"Where the heck did he even go? Come on, Carn, you can't just ditch me like this..." he mutters to himself. Then, he notices the grass-type Pokemon gathered around some guy, and Carn among them, innocently waving antennae at him. "Carn!" Gold stomps over. "Why'd you run off like that? What if I'd gotten lost!" While Carn looks apologetic, Gold turns to Professor Banyan. "Sorry, mister. I dunno why he ran off on me like that. Hope he wasn't bothering you."

Carn makes an indignated noise. Bother? Him? Of course not!

Professor Banyan's eyes are sharp as he turned his gaze to Gold. Thankfully his shades hid the fact before he turned his attention to Carn. A smile formed on his lips followed by a chuckle.

"Don't be so upset," he spoke in a gentle tone to Carn. "He was just worried about you, that's all."

"Chikori?" The Chikorita who stood next to the Professor tilted his head in confusion. The Professor returned his focus to Gold, smiling still.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's no trouble here. All the Pokemon besides Chikorita here are wild ones, but I should've figured this Meganium here wasn't a wild one from the looks of it." He gave another glance to Carn, and back to Gold. "I can tell you've taken good care of him."

Carn nods with a grin, his former indignation off his face like it was never there. Seems he was just playing it up. He walks over to Gold and gently plops his jaw on Gold's head, releasing some soothing aroma.

"Huh, really?" Gold is a bit embarrassed at the Professor's praise. "I dunno, I think he's the one taking good care of me." He pets Carn's neck, and pauses, noticing it's wet. "Did you water him? ...Am I supposed to be watering him?"

Now Gold's worried. What's he supposed to be doing to take care of his other Pokemon? He's only been a trainer for a short time, and nobody told him about watering.

"I think caring for one another is a sign of a great relationship between Pokemon and a trainer." Professor Banyan chuckled as he watched Carn make his way to Gold's side. At the younger trainer's question he shook his head. "It isn't necessary to water grass type Pokemon, as they can eat like any other Pokemon species, but they do quite enjoy getting watered."

"Chiko!" Chikorita spoke up in excitement as he gave a little hop. Glancing down, Professor Banyan smiled. The Hoppip that hid behind him shyly peeked over his shoulder to take a look at Gold. Was it safe??? It wasn't quite sure yet as it moved to hide back behind the Professor.

Not minding the Hoppip's timid behavior, Professor Banyan continued.

"That's right, let me introduce myself. I'm Banyan, the Pokemon Professor of this area. What is your name?"

"Oh. I guess that makes sense," Gold says, still petting Carn. He makes a mental note to water Carn sometimes, and try and ask his other Pokemon about what they'd like him to do sometime.

Gold notices the shy little Hoppip, and gives a little wave and a smile. First a Chikorita, then a Hoppip... This sure brings back memories.

"Wait, you're a Pokemon Professor? But you're so normal!" Gold exclaims, amazed. "My name's Gold! Please remember it." Gold may not have had the best experiences dealing with Professors in the past.

...Normal? Oh that's right, he didn't have his lab coat on right now. Not that he needed to wear it at the moment.

"Gold, huh?" Banyan took a moment to eye on the trainer, and then nodded. "No need to worry, I'll take note of it."

The Hoppip at first seemed to peek out again when Gold waved at it. Although still hesitant to move away from the Pokemon Professor, its eyes did express some curiosity towards the young boy. The same goes with the Floette that was now peeking out and slowly floating near Banyan's head. And the Professor took notice of that.

"...I'll tell you what Gold, if you and your Meganium ain't in a hurry, why not stick around and with these little fellas for a bit?" Banyan gestured to the Pokemon around him. "They're not used to being around humans quite yet, so they're real shy."

He then made the attempt to get these Pokemon to reveal themselves.

"Come on now you two, say hi to the kid!"

"Oh... I guess we're not in a hurry..." Gold says, a bit distracted and charmed by the shy Pokemon peeking at him. "Yeah, we can stay." There's something very calming about being surrounded by cute grass-type Pokemon like this, and Gold finds himself wanting to stay here even if he was busy.

He crouches down and holds out a hand, palm up, towards the Pokemon to lure them in. But then some kind of a cringe passes his face, and his hand twitches back, as if reminded of something painful.

Carn makes a questioning sound, and Gold exhales, relaxing, before slowly setting his hand down on the ground, palm down, forcing a smile for the grass-types.

Internally, he's berating himself. Good going, now you're gonna scare them off! Why did you think you could be trusted around small wild Pokemon?

But on the outside, he's just smiling, though more stiffly than before.

Banyan has met many Pokemon and people who all carried different experiences and pasts, so he couldn't help but be observant of another person's behavior such as Gold's. His eyes narrowed out of habit (thank goodness for his shades hiding how sharp his eyes were). Walking closer to where Carn and Gold were, Banyan knelt down.

A smile touched his lips while he held his Sprinklotad out to Gold.

"You want to make friends with them, yeah?" He questioned. "I get getting nervous meeting new Pokemon, or people. You never know how they'd react."

The Hoppip who still hid behind Banyan curiously peeked over Banyan's shoulder. It seemed to be watching Gold still.

"It's okay to be nervous, y'know? They're just as nervous, but ya shouldn't let that cloud yer thoughts. ...might be easier said than done, though." Banyan gave a glance to the bushes while lightly gesturing to them with his head. Gold just might notice a Kantonian Exeggutor doing a really poor job of hiding within them. "I promise no one here want to hurt anybody, let alone this lil' guy."

He grinned, not making it clear whether he was talking about Gold, or the Exeggutor who was now slowly but surely leaning out from the bushes.

"Chikori!" Chikorita also spoke up as he gave a happy hop, and made his way to wave his little leaf to Gold. The Floette that was floating near Banyan's head let out a giggle in response.

When Banyan walks closer, Gold tenses slightly, worried that the Professor might've noticed what he was thinking. But when he just smiles and holds out the Sprinklotad, Gold blinks, not making any move to accept it yet, and listens.

"It's not like I'm nervous," Gold says falteringly, averting his eyes. Meeting new people is easy, as long as he masks his feelings behind a smile and exaggerated emotions, and never shows his true self. As soon as the mask slips, it becomes the most difficult thing in the world.

Gold watches Chikorita come closer and wave his leaf, and manages a small smile in response. He slowly reaches up to take the Sprinklotad from Banyan's hand, but then just sits there with it in his hands, glancing at all the grass-types around him. Carn watches him with a bit of worry, not sure what his trainer's thinking now, but decides to just stay back and see what happens.

Banyan's words hit onto something in Gold's emotions. 'Nobody here wants to hurt anybody.' What a nice thought. He wishes he could be that certain of himself. (The idea that any of the Pokemon might hurt him never even crosses his mind.)

"...Can you really promise that?" Gold asks. "You don't know me."

But, despite his words, if any of the grass-types comes up to him, he sprinkles some water on them.

"Is that so? My mistake then." Came Banyan's casual comment. He knew when, and when not to push a topic given his years of experience. Yet it wasn't hard to notice the way Gold had reacted. That was something to keep in mind, he mentally noted.

He turned his attention to the Floette as he reached his hand out allowing her to slowly float onto his palm. He gave a grin to the fairy Pokemon, before glancing back to Gold. Once more he looks over the young trainer who now had the Sprinklotad in hand.

A part of him noted how small the other looked, while the other made him was reminded of someone he knew.

"Yer right, I don't know ya." He agreed followed by a nod. His Chikorita was by his side, imitating his head nod. "...but I know enough. Yer nice enough to consider yer Pokemon, and even look for 'em. On top of that, ya didn't have to take the Sprinklotad, but ya did."

As if on cue, Hoppip while shy was slowly making its way past Banyan. It's fidgeting while giving hopeful, but timid stare up to Gold.

"It just takes a little time, and effort to make new friends. Ya just gotta take that step forward too."

Gold sits still, listening to everything Banyan says, but only keeps his eyes on the timid Hoppip. He doesn't want to scare it away.

"...It's not like that says anything about how nice I am," Gold argues half-heartedly, while slowly, cautiously, raising the Sprinklotad and watering the Hoppip. "Carn's my Pokemon, so of course I'd look for him. And taking something you're offered is just normal."

Carn smiles as he watches Gold, then looks around at the other grass-types while making little proud noises, as if bragging. 'See? Isn't my trainer sweet?' he seems to say.

"And if I make that step forward, what then?" Gold asks, a bit frustrated. "Even if I do make a friend, who's nice, and kind, and a good person, they're just gonna hate me in the end if they find out what I-"

Gold grits his teeth shut. He keeps watering the Pokemon who come up to him. He said too much. If he pretends he didn't say it, maybe it didn't happen.

"Not everyone takes what's offered, or have a Pokemon that's proud of their trainer like yers." Banyan glanced over to give a smile to Carn. Yeah, as far as he was concerned Gold was a good kid.

At Gold's outburst he shifted his gaze back looking thoughtfully.

"Even a nice and kind person aren't that way because that's all they experienced in their lives." He commented while gently brushing the tip of his finger against Floette's head. She's giggling happily. "Both people and Pokemon, they all got their own lives and experience and through that they can connect to others who might be the same, or completely different from them."

"Hoppip! Hoppip!" The shy Hoppip chimed with a smile. It seemed he was enjoying the water being sprinkled on. That was getting the Exeggutor to take a hesitant step from the bushes, giving a curious look. Chikorita's turning to happily greet Exeggutor, while trying to coax it out from the bushes.

Gold glances at Carn. He's proud of Gold? Gold doesn't know what to think of that, so he just sets it aside for later.

Unfortunately, Gold's not in the right mental space to absorb Banyan's words. In his current, frustrated state, he desperately just wants somebody who understands exactly how he's really feeling, but he doesn't have the ability to communicate what he even feels. And so, Banyan's words, wise as they are, just ring to him as false, empty platitudes.

Angry with himself for hoping for too much, Gold responds the only way he can: slamming a wide smile onto his face.

"Wow, you're right!" Gold says with cheerfulness. "That helps a lot, Professor! I'm gonna keep that in mind and try my best to make friends!" He smiles at the Hoppip, then turns to the Exeggutor. "Hi! You wanna get watered too? What kinda Pokemon are you?"

While Gold starts digging out his Pokedex, Carn frowns a little at his sudden change in attitude, before deciding to just roll with it and help coax Exeggutor out.

"Exe...Exeggutor..." Unfortunately for Gold, despite being a bigger Pokemon than Hoppip having a stranger approach so suddenly, and with a smile like that caused him to panic. The Floette that had been relaxed in Banyan's hand too taking note of Gold's behavior immediately moved to hide within Banyan's straw hat once more. The Hoppip too shrunk back.

The sudden change in Gold's behavior, and his approach had the wild Pokemon on edge. Banyan was quick to step between Gold and Exeggutor. It was to prevent the Exeggutor from lashing out from any sudden perceived threat, even if there were none present.

"Is that how ya consider making friends?" His tone was calm, and gentle as he questioned Gold. He didn't want to anger Gold anymore than he was, but he also could tell the other was holding some type of pain within himself. He didn't want to keep things going the way they were, and let the trainer off knowing he might get hurt or worse. He didn't want to see anyone hurt.

"Ya know Gold, I was just tryin' ta tell ya that the Pokemon here, most of them ain't from Ultern." His gaze softened while turning to the Exeggutor and back to Gold. "I'm sure a trainer like you know Pokemon don't mean any harm when they jump out at ya, but..."

Slowly he's pulling his gardening gloves to reveal how his hands were riddled with scars.

"There's no way they can even know whether a human means well or not. Despite that, we managed to become friends. I really think, that somewhere there's someone who'd accept ya, both the good and bad. 'Course! No need to go and rush to make all the friends, y'know?"

There's a confident grin on Banyan's face as he slipped his gloves right back on. The Hoppip that's been shivering rubbed against Banyan while peering up with a worried look in his eyes. His Chikorita meanwhile puffed up his chest while approaching Gold to put on his best happy face, clearly eager to be friends still.

Gold freezes when the Pokemon become frightened of him, staring at them wide-eyed. The Sprinklotad drops to the ground, and he doesn't notice. More than scared, he's ashamed of himself. A part of him berates himself. Of course this is what would happen, they're right to be afraid. This is what happens when you show what you're really like.

Carn steps between Gold and the Exeggutor as well, making soothing noises, and tries to communicate to everyone around him that everything's fine, this is normal, Gold just switches moods quickly sometimes and Carn's used to it. He keeps a non-threatening posture, and releases a bit of soothing aroma to try and help everyone be at ease.

Banyan's words are gentle, but they feel like an accusation to Gold, and he looks down, biting on his lip. "I don't know," he says quietly. "I don't know how to make friends."

He listens to Banyan, and looks up when the Professor shows his scars, eyes widening when he sees them. Suddenly some of what Banyan is saying sinks in, and Gold realizes these Pokemon are a lot like himself.

"I... Yeah," Gold responds, a slight, genuine smile slowly rising to his lips. "I mean, even I found one guy who's my friend, and people who say they accept everything about me..." Gold still can't quite believe it'd be true, but he wants to. "But they're all back home, and now I'm here, and I don't... I don't know if I'll ever see them again." It's like something he's been avoiding thinking about is suddenly pouring out, and Gold blinks rapidly, voice hitching. "Everybody says there's no way out of here, and if you try to leave you just come back, and I don't have anybody here but my Pokemon and..."

He stops talking, hiding his face behind a sleeve as he hiccups, clearly crying. Carn immediately turns back to his trainer and gently sets his head on Gold's shoulder, and Gold leans slightly against Carn.

"Sorry," Gold says with a sharp, wet intake of breath, face still hidden. "I'm sorry. I'll, try and stop."

Banyan frowned when Gold admitted to what weighed on his mind. He couldn't help but sympathize having experience in this. Plenty of Pokemon and people in the region had similar tales to tell. He wish there was something he could do to make it better, but what could a Pokemon professor like himself do?

He doesn't respond right away as he finally reached down to pick the Sprinklotad up from the ground.

"Ya don't gotta apologize for a thing." He spoke quietly, while lifted his gaze back to Gold with a grin. "If ya want, it ain't much but you can call this your home away from home. ... ...and, y'know, I wanna see these Pokemon get back home too. So I ain't giving up hope for that day, so don't give up either Gold."

He grinned.

"But it's alright to be upset 'bout what's going on. I know I'd be the same too."

"Chikori!" Chikorita moving away from Banyan's side walked over to gently rub his head against Gold's leg. Like his trainer, he didn't like seeing the younger trainer upset.

Gold doesn't dare say anything, knowing his voice would crack if he did, so he just keeps nodding in response to Banyan. But when he registers what he said about 'home away from home' it gives him a bit of pause, his tears starting to wane.

What did that mean? It couldn't mean what it first sounds like. Why would the Professor want Gold staying in his house? Did he mean the Ultern region as a whole? No, that didn't make sense.

As he thinks, Gold feels Chikorita rub against his leg, and looks down. With a bit of a weak smile, Gold wipes away his tears, pats Carn, and crouches down to look at Chikorita. His hand hovers over him, not quite daring to try and pet.

He decides to gather his courage and ask.

"...Sounds like you're inviting me to stay at your house?" he asks, not looking at Banyan. Surely he's misunderstood things. Or maybe Banyan will take the offer back once he realizes what he's offering.

"Yeah, I sure did." Banyan's grinning wide in response. "Unless, 'course you don't wanna. I can't force ya to stay, but this house of mine's pretty big even with the lab, and my Pokemon bunking with me."

He'll gesture to his home with the bright red roof that contrasted from the white sands of the beach close by.

"I've got an open room you could use as a base of sorts, even."

"Oh, no, I do wanna!" Gold rushes to say, standing up. It feels too good to be true, so he accepts the offer as fast as he can, as if Banyan would take it away if he waits a second too long. He looks at the house, kind of awed. It reminds him of his dad's house a bit. (And maybe the professor kind of reminds him of his dad too, subconsciously.)

"I don't really get why you'd want me here, but, if you've got a room you don't need I'll take it," he says, looking around. "There's a lot of space, so my Pokemon would probably like it too..." He glances at the Pokeballs on his waist, and at Carn, who makes a happy sound and a little hop. He's pleased with the idea.

"Oh yeah, can I bring my other Pokemon out? I wanna ask them what they think," Gold asks Banyan, taking a few steps to get some distance from the other grass-types gathered around, not wanting to scare them any further.

"Yeah, go right ahead! It's fair for yer Pokemon to know where y'all gonna be sleeping." The Professor nodded. He wasn't about to argue about a trainer and his Pokemon making a decision together.

Thankfully for Gold the other grass types seemed to be calmer now, with the timid Exeggutor now standing next to Banyan who gave a gentle pat to his side. He gave the Pokemon a reassuring smile before watching Gold, curious to see what the rest of his Pokemon were.

Gold nods and takes his Pokeballs out, tossing them into the air.

"Come on out, Elena, Nerica, Mateo and Umbar!" he calls out, and the Pokemon all materialize. Elena the Furret waves a shy greeting, and Mateo the Umbreon glares at the grass-type Pokemon around them, before going to half-hide behind Elena. Nerica the Togetic does a spin in the air and preens as if this were a Contest stage, and Umbar the Lugia just smiles and gives Banyan a casual wave with one of his wings. Carn trots over to join the group.

"I dunno if you guys heard it from your Pokeballs or not, but this is Professor Banyan," Gold gestures at him, "and he's offering us a place to stay here. Whatcha think?"

The Pokemon glance at each other, and begin to talk among themselves. Nerica and Mateo both sound a bit more uncertain about it, while the others sound positive. Gold stands by as they chat, waiting for a decision, and glancing at Banyan occasionally to see what he might think about his Pokemon.

Banyan watched as Gold sent out his team. The smile on his face doesn't change even as he sees Umbar, the Lugia out in the open. That was sure one big Pokemon, but his home was out in the open and close to the sea he mused before giving a wave back to Umbar. That and it wasn't like he hasn't seen a huge Pokemon before...ah, right. He was getting off track as he turned his attention to Gold who was double checking with his team.

As the young trainer seem to be doing so, Banyan glanced over to check on the grass types. Exeggutor seemed curious about the sudden appearance of new Pokemon, and even the Floette that went back into hiding peered from under Banyan's hat. What was this? More Pokemon?

"Heh heh," Banyan chuckled. "It seems they're all curious about your team." He commented while holding his hand out for Floette once more. She slowly floated over to the palm of his hand.

"That's right, it might not change things but I should introduce all of you to my team." Banyan spoke up while cupping his chin with his free hand. "It's not just Chikorita that lives here with me after all."

"Chiko!" Chikorita hopped up in excitement. He even happily waved his leaf up to the rest of Gold's team.

MORNING - OUT IN THE YARD

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