Obvious exits:
Northeast <NE> leads to Hop Hop Town: West Entrance.
South <S> leads to Commerce Road - Route 7: Cache Creek.
East <E> leads to Commerce Road - Route 7: Trading Point.

Charlie arrives from Commerce Road - Route 7: Cache Creek.
Charlie has arrived.

Fair weather clouds sail across the blue sky, propelled by light breezes from the west. It's warm in the sun, cool in the shade, and the air is clear and dry. In the forest, the wind rustles the bright green leaves of trees and bushes and carries Oddish pollen, downy seeds, and the fragrance of wildflowers along with it. While at the coast, the ocean is a deep cool blue today, the waves lapping at the coast gently under the pleasant spring sky.

Ahh. It's your generic perfect day. The sun is continuing its descent to the horizon, though it doesn't look like it's going to set within the next couple of hours. What would be the best choice of action for a wild pokemon to be doing? Finding some shelter to help for a safe night? Getting a decent dinner before the night? Both of these are wonderful choices. And, so, which of these two excellent choices is selected by Peppy the Growlithe? Neither - the puppy is fast asleep under one of the largest trees in the area. He's lying on his belly, his chin upon his paws, and he's snoring ever so softly. By no means has he concealed himself; he's directly visible from the often-traded footpath.

Charlie happens to be one of the people out on this perfectly generic day, his sunglasses covering his eyes while a grin covers his face. It's days like this that get the trainer up and working, and ever since his discovery of that old book, Charlie has felt rather happy every day. Nonetheless, the trainer is walking idly on the path cleared before him, a Mr. Mime dressed head to toe in a black silk suit acting as the young man's companion. Neither Mime nor trainer speaks as they head away from Celadon, their thoughts pushing away from the thick reality placed before them.

Peppy doesn't seem to be moving an awful lot in his sleep. What does this mean? All those Peppy fans out there will be able to tell you that that's a sure sign that he just fell asleep - he's always completely calm and serene when he first falls asleep. Ten minutes later, he'll be in some wacky position that looks extremely uncomfortable. (We're assuming there are any Peppy fans out there in the first place - it's unlikely.) But for right now, the dog looks peaceful. His snoring is not too loud, and his breathing is almost completely silent. But what's he doing taking a nap when he should be hunting dinner?

Considering the fire dog is in plain view, he's hard to not spot. The Mime is the first to notice, his eyes turning to look at the completely peaceful, completely 'awww, isn't he cute?' Growlithe. He just nudges Charlie in the gut before stopping, turning to face the stupendously stupendous pokemon while he waits for the trainer to quit moving. Charlie does stop, and his eyes do follow the Mime's, his thoughts registering the Growlithe as a, um, Growltihe. <Isn't that like the biggest Growlithe you've ever seen?> "He's not big per say.... just a bit plump." <Whatever you say.>

Those Peppy fans out there resent that remark! He's not fat! He is, however, extremely lazy - and even Charlie and the Mime's conversation isn't enough to cause the Growlithe to stir even slightly. His eyes stay closed, and Peppy once again proves that Darwin's theories of "the strong survive" might not be quite so accurate after all. Given that it seems to take nothing less than 152.7 decibels of noise to wake him up, it's a surprise he hasn't been gobbled right up in his sleep. Or maybe he just had a big day? Who knows. Whatever the case, he's still sleeping like a log - and there are more similarities than differences.

Fair weather clouds sail across the blue sky, propelled by light breezes from the west. It's warm in the sun, cool in the shade, and the air is clear and dry.

Both psychic and trainer just stand there, blinking a few times, swallowing, blinking again, yawning. That Growlithe has been sleeping there for quite some time, and Charlie and Silk have been standing here for quite some time as well. A sigh echoes from Charlie's lips as he turns to look at the Mime, words finally pouring forth. "You want to wake him?" <Sure.> The psychic raises a single finger so that the tip faces the fire dog. Mind you, the duo is still a distance away, but there's perks to being a psychic. A tiny pebble hovers in the air near the fire dog, level with the Mime's finger. The finger, that dreaded finger, moves forward an inch towards the Growlithe, the pebble moving along with it. Lo and behold, the pebble comes in contact with the furry exterior of the Growlithe before pulling back as Silk's finger moves once again. There you go folks, there's your poke.

The psychic's movements, believe it or not, actually spark up a reaction from the sleeping puppy. A flick of the ears and a little right eye twitch show the puppy's sudden discomfort. With a little growl - not of anger, more of confusion or puzzlement - the dog rolls over onto his side, making a clumsy strike at where the pebble was when it first poked him a few moments earlier. Mind you, he's still totally unconcious. <Knuggit ov,> he mutters sleepily, taking in a deep, deep yawn before going limp once more. He doesn't fall back onto his tummy - he stays on his side in an almost comical position.

A grin pulls up one side of Charlie's mouth as he looks at the Growlithe roll over and speak. This trainer has owned a few Growlithe in his time, and so knows exactly what the fire dog is saying. Not that it makes sense mind you, but Charlie understands nonetheless. He stares at the fire pokemon for a few seconds longer before turning to Silk, the grin still on his face. "Try his nose." The Mime nods once before pushing his finger forward once again, the pebble moving dangerously close to the fire dogs nose. "And leave it there." The Mime grins as the pebble stops dead on the Growlithe's nose, the psychic keeping the cold stone upon Peppy's face, waiting for a reaction.

This sparks up something a little nose. <Stobbit!> woofs the dog, growling a little more angrily this time. <Dun... wannit!> 'Darn rabbit'? 'Don't want it'? What is he saying? His face scrunching up and showing his discomfort, the puppy bats at his nose inaccurately, trying to connect with the pebble and knock it off. Swipe! Miss. Swipe! Miss. Swipe! Hit! The puppy rams his paw right into his nose. Hard. The effect is instantaneous - "Grrrowlithe!" The canine's eyelids blink open. And there you have it - a Growlithe with hanging, tired eyes, completely frozen, a paw smashed into his nose. It's a Kodak moment.

One if by land, two if by sea, behind me I seem to be able to see! (Saving)

If only Charlie had a camera, it would have been a moment in time that was captured forever. And what a moment too. The trainer's knees buckle slightly as he begins to laugh, the image of the Growlithe sending him into conniptions of hilarity. The Mime's laughter quickly follows the young man's, the pokemon holding his suit covered sides as the pebble drops to the ground, Silk losing the psychic link. This is where the irony comes in, because the trainer and his pokemon look just as weird standing there laughing incredibly hard at the image that looked incredibly weird to them in the first place, causing the duo to laugh. That makes sense, right?

Vision blurry, nose stinging, and mind befuddled, Peppy can only peer at the human and his pokemon laughing away. After a few moments of simply blushing behind his fur and wondering if they're laughing at him - and, if so, why - the pup rolls over onto his stomach, though he doesn't quite get up yet. He yawns softly - he's still exhausted. He rubs his left eye against his paw - aww, how cute - then glances back up at Charlie, wondering if the trainer is still laughing. Perhaps the Mime is just a good joke teller or something.

Yeah, that's it, good joke telling is the cause of all this laughter. That same laughter quickly subsides though, the trainer wiping a tear away from his eye before actually concentrating on focusing on the Growlithe. "Good.... heh.... good evening." That simple sentence sends the two back into fits of laughter though, as the Growlithe's last position still registers freely in their memory. That laughter is easily extinguished though, and the duo are back to talking normalcy. "I'm terribly sorry. My name's Charlie and this Mime here is Silk. Did we catch you at a bad time?" It's almost as if the trainer is purposely trying to make them both laugh, since they're back at it again with the presentation of that question.

Still very embarrassed, the puppy glances to the side. If the dog had any idea what it was, he'd wonder if he was on candid camera or something. After a moment or two of avoiding Charlie's glance, the Growlithe glances back at the man. Taking a moment or two to shakily bring himself up to all four paws, the canine stifles a yawn, and replies, <No... um, not really... Do you need something?> His mind is groggy, and the confusion the laughing duo are bringing about is not really helping much.

The two finally stop laughing, their laughter for the year having been used up in that one special moment. A few breaths are pulled in, a few are noisly pushed out. But in the end, everything's ready to go, and the trainer is good for answering some questions, the first of which being the question posed by the Growlithe. "No, I just couldn't help but notice you. You're not very hidden, you know? Some trainer could just come right by and capture you." And no, Charlie has no intention of capturing this Growlithe, it's just a common sense thing to say.

About four words actually make their way into the mind of the puppy with an IQ comparable to that of an eggplant having just woken up into a cloud of confusion: "I", "could", and "capture you." It takes about four seconds for the Growlithe to reply. Those four seconds are spent with Peppy simply peering at Charlie cluelessly, blinking once or twice, before realizing just what Charlie said... Well, rather, what he thinks he said. With a sudden jolt of energy, the canine pops right into a defensive position, growling visciously at Charlie. Through clenched teeth, he warns the trainer, <If you've come here to try and capture me, you might as well leave!> He considers adding '<But if you have food or just want to talk, stay for a bit!>' but decides against it.

Charlie blinks slowly as he listens to the Growlithe, his eyebrows cocking above their glistening counterparts. "Capture you?" A chuckle pushes forth from Charlie's lips as the question is repeated. "Capture you? Why would I want to capture a plump Growlithe?" The Mime, at the mention of looking for a reason, turns to look up at Charlie, a grin covering his face. The trainer immediately reads the look, the initial chuckles turning into a tiny spurt of laughter. "Besides the fact that you have -wonderful- waking poses."

(Right here we established for the heck of it that Peppy's actually not plump - he's more slender than average. Charlie said he knew and that Peppy sleeping just threw him off. So now we continue!)

The Growlithe blinks, his growling instantly coming to a complete and utter stop. He doesn't know what the word 'plump' means, but it probably means something along the lines of 'sleepy'. But what would that have to do with anything? Faced with a brand new enigma, Peppy simply plunks down on his rear end. Plump. Maybe it means hungry. He just hopes it doesn't mean dumb. Upon the man's second little statement, however, Peppy's gaze takes his head up, and he simply peers at Charlie dumbfoundedly. The dawning of recognition halos above the puppy's head, and he simply half-whimpers, <Is that why you were laughing at me?> His eyes look rather sad - the pup enjoys attention and all, but even he can differentiate between good and bad.

Charlie is definitely a mean ole' <edit>, but when a sad and cute and utterly un-plump Growlithe stares you down with those big puppy-dog eyes, how can you even stay sarcastic? The trainer smiles slightly as he looks to the fire dog, his answer not exactly the truth, but.... well, it's not even a shred of the truth but Charlie goes for it anyway. "No, no, of course not. Silk here made this hilarious joke and we just couldn't stop laughing about it. And no, the joke wasn't about you." Charlie seems genuinely nice as he speaks to the Growlithe, his focus remaining on the fire dog. Silk, meanwhile, can't believe what he's hearing. Now, see, Charlie may be sarcastic and mean, but Silk is downright evil. <What the f- > "Hush."

Charlie's initial reply is a simple cocking of the head as Peppy blinks at the trainer, any sadness turning into a moment of puzzlement. He catches on quickly, though, and with an apprehensive nod, the dog lets it go. Still, he doesn't do it with a smile on his face - it is rather possible that the puppy doesn't believe Charlie's lie. And perhaps it's Peppy's evil side, or perhaps it's simply curiousity (depending on whether he knows Charlie's lying or not), but after a moment of silence, the canine asks, <Would I understand the joke?> A small tail wag and a soft doggy smile come into play. Awwww. <Can I hear it, too?> It's been a long time since he had a good laugh, after all!

One if by land, two if by sea, behind me I seem to be able to see! (Saving)

Fair weather clouds sail across the blue sky, propelled by light breezes from the west. It's warm in the sun, cool in the shade, and the air is clear and dry.

The Mime snorts as he turns to stare off into the distance, no longer involved in this incident. <Good job inspector.> "Shut up." A false smile is attached to Charlie's face as he looks towards the Growlithe, his mind racing with ideas for trying to get out of this situation. Ah yes, the always faithful 'time to go'. "Yes, you'd actually understand this joke, but it's long and I can't tell it to you now. I've got a meeting in a few minutes, and so have to go. If you wait until tomorrow though, I'll tell it to you." The trainer grin as he begins to sidle away. "You'll be here, right?"

Blink. "Grrowl?" the puppy asks softly with the tiniest little smile, giving a slight little tail wag of lack of understanding. <I... guess...> the fire type woofs gently, nodding his head slightly. <I'll try to still be here.> Hey, he's got nothing better to do, apparently, ifi he's sleeping when the sun is still up. His tail wags gently. <I'm waiting for somebody anyway.> Light pause. <And maybe somebody else.> Another pause. <And then you, too.> Sure, he's dumb, but he's darn cute, too. With a little woof and a tail wag, the pup gives Charlie a farewell "Grrrowlithe!" followed immediately by a, <Bring burgers, okay?> Hey, it's worth a shot.

Charlie starts to jog off, leaving the Growlithe with a, "Sure thing," before heading off down the path. The Mime does follow, grinning maliciously from ear as he catches up to the trainer, no words needing to be shared for the idea to be understood. The duo moves along the path for a while longer before they begin to speak. "Well, that was close." <Yeah, but now you've got to come back with burgers and a funny joke. All because you couldn't turn down a stupid little Growlithe.> "Shut up, he was lookin' sad." <-You- are looking sad, you pathetic piece of- > "Yeah, yeah, shut up."