Welcome to Gaia! ::

Crasher Wake smile as Quagsire's tail slammed into the Protect in vain, the Pokemon dropping into the water below afterwards. Watching the glow of the shield carefully. He saw an opportunity to end this right here and also teach his new pupil a lesson.

"Here is your first lesson as a gym trainer of the Pastoria Gym! Protect leaves your Pokemon vulnerable after it drops! Quagsire, use Hyper Beam!" Wake ordered.

Right before Niles would lose its Protect Quagsire would pop its head out of the water and unleash a powerful beam of pure energy from its mouth, Crasher Wake timing it perfectly so that the Hyper Beam was inches from the Protect shield before it disappeared, giving Niles little to no window of opportunity to do anything about the incoming blast of devastation. Looks really were deceiving.

Crasher Wake smiled wide as Ryan approached him and asked what was to him an absurd question, one that earned him a roaring laugh. "Of course! The Torrential Masked Master would never let such potential slip through his fingers! This gym would be honor, perhaps even privileged, to have you! If you'll take it I, Crasher Wake of Pastoria Gym, would like to offer you the position of Gym Trainer of the Pastoria Gym, pupil to the Great Wake himself! What do you say?"

"Welcome aboard then!" Crasher Wake said with a laugh. "Why don't we get you settled in? As a gym trainer you are entitled to your own living quarters, if you choose to use it. Follow me." The gym leader said as he started to walk towards the far end of the gym, popping open an 'invisible' door in the wall which was really just a door that was designed to blend into the rest of the wall. On the other side was a small common room, a kitchenette off to the side of it, and a long hallway beyond it with doors lining it. It was kind of like a miniature Snagem HQ or something you found at Pokemon Centers.

"Look for an empty room and make it yours! Should be the last one on the right if I'm remembering right, you took our last open position!" Wake said as he slapped Ryan on the back. "I'll leave you to it. Perhaps you should get to know some of the others later." With that he walked off and left Ryan to explore the hidden quarters behind the gym.

Ryan wouldn't find much in the way of other warm bodies lurking around the complex behind the gym. He would pass through the small kitchen, peek through a few open bedroom doors, it wasn't until he made his second trip to the common room did he actually find someone. It was a man dressed in a complete sailor's outfit, sitting on the coach and just relaxing it would seem, stroking the Wingull curled up on his lap. Such a burly man being so gentle with such a small Pokemon was a cute sight to behold.

"Hm? Oh, hey there. I thought I was the only one here. The others went out to go training as Wake ordered. Please don't tell Crasher I stayed behind. It's just, I don't get to spend much time with my pal Yuzo here these days. He isn't made for gym battles." The burly man explained to Ryan as he pet his Wingull, the bird giving off a content chirp. "Rescued him from after he got into a nasty fight with a Swellow. I nursed him back to health with the intent to release him but apparently his wings didn't heal right and he can't fly anymore so..." That's when the sailor realized he had been gushing his heart out to someone he didn't even know.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. Uh...this is embarrassing...you're the new guy, right? Already heard about you. I'm Damien." He chuckled nervously.

The sailor smiled at Ryan, aka Alex, and shook his hand before going back to petting his Wingull. "Thank you, it's nice to have someone listen even if I didn't intend to talk." He sighed. "You liking it here so far? Crasher Wake may be a bit eccentric but he is really a nice guy, and very talented, don't let his airs fool you." Damien reassured Ryan. "The others aren't bad either, a few of them have their quarks though but you'll get used to them."

"Glad you are taking to everything well." The sailor said with a smile. "Any who, I better get going so Wake doesn't catch me slacking off, you should too. We ordered us to hit up either Routes 212 or 213 and do some training. I'll probably pick a nice peaceful location to get some more time in with my buddy here. Catch you later." With that said Damien got up and headed out with his friendly Wingull.

As Ryan stepped onto Route 213 he could instantly hear and smell the ocean, despite the fact from where he stood a forest stood between him and it, was just a short walk around the corner though to get to the ocean, even he could tell that. Stepping into the tall grass which separated the grassy western portion of Route 213 with the sandy majority the Water Channeler would hear the unmistakable sound of a Poliwhirl, no doubt battling some other sort of Pokemon, perhaps some bird Pokemon.

A short walk forward to investigate Ryan would find a Fisherman who had evidently just knocked out a local Chatot with his Poliwhirl. It was strange to see such a trainer battling on land and not fishing up his opponents but not exactly unheard of. The Water Channeler would also note on the Fisherman's cap a patch in the style of the Fen Badge sewn to it, the Fisherman a gym trainer no doubt, likely here to train as ordered.