You mean my hair? It is intentional.

Was your tactless and obnoxious attitude intentional? Or was that a factory error?

Ooooh, Mr. Serious here. Did you do that on purpose or are you a factory error?

No.

icolress started following you

Are you dressed as a party favor or something? Oh Oh! Or you’re trying to channel cable TV in to your brain! Maybe this is your version of “Pull my finger..”

Noticing he had upset the boy, Colress decided to backtrack a little. "I apologize if I upset you by mentioning some of the... lesser goods in Unova," he replied. "By no means did I mean exciting in the good sense, if that puts your mind at ease at all," he added.  That statement was true, after all. He did not agree with what Team Plasma was doing despite working for them. He was only working under Ghestis because he was one of the few people who allowed him to carry on his research and even funded it. But liberating Pokemon? He knew the idea was absurd.

"What I meant is more that it's stimulating in an intellectual sense," Colress amended. "As it is with any rebel group that supports a cause. You have a group of fanatics like Team Plasma and you begin to wonder about their ideas yourself. Wondering if they have any merit. And you begin to question your own relationships with your Pokemon." He paused, realizing he might be making it worse. "I do not approve of their actions in any way. I believe Pokemon and trainers belong together to maximize their full strength and potential, and I am most definitely not a sympathizer." Again, a true statement. Albeit a slightly hypocritical one.

His eyes widened. ‘Oh yeah – I forgot all about those!’ he thought as he stuffed a hand in his pocket to look for money. Lucas’s rummaging action stopped and he frowned – he seemed to have remembered that he used up almost all of his money last night in Veilstone. He smiled bitterly before continuing to write what the Professor was telling him.

Lucas’s bitter smile turned into a sour-filled expression.

He thought only Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh would get tangled in such a mess – and that ‘Team Plasma’s’ goals were to do that? He supposed it was a little less cruel – if he were to compare it Team Rocket, but it still fueled him…

“I don’t find that exciting at all,” the professor-in-training mumbled; he completely disregarded that smile stretched across Colress’s face and glared daggers into the ground.

Colress nodded. "Well, thank you for that then, Green." He sighed. "Honestly, I understand what you mean completely. My... employer..." He hesitated over the word a little, not wanting to say anything that sounded suspicious. "...is rather frenetic when he wants to be. Really distracting when I am trying to do work. And many of the other... employees under him seem to not want to talk to me. Perhaps it is the hair that distracts them." He smiled sardonically. 

"Enough about me, though.  I suppose I should make more of an effort at small talk, rather than rambling about things that really do not affect you at all." Colress shrugged. "What are your aspirations as a trainer?"

As the blond- or Green supposed he would be called a blond- began to talk more and more, Green only waited silently, listening. “It is true, though, isn’t it? Instincts and knowledge are both pretty integral to- well, a lot of things.” At Colress’ apology, though, Green simply blinked at him a few times, taken a bit off guard. 

He was apologizing for rambling? The idea was almost funny to him now, after being friends with someone like Red for so long. The slightly baffled expression on Green’s face soon faded into an amused smile, and he, too, gave a soft laugh, a quiet one.

“Trust me, you’re not off-putting at all. Not to me, at least. It’s… Pretty nice to meet people who aren’t too energetic but aren’t too quiet, either.”

"Are you really?" Colress asked him indifferently. "I suppose if this kind of thing interests you I am glad I can be of assistance. Although the details I am telling you could be found in any tourism book or almanac of Unova. Not that I mind telling you myself, of course."

"...Clearly you would like more information, so I suppose I will continue?" Colress asked. When the boy continued looking up at him eagerly, he sighed slightly. "All right. Perhaps it interests you that Unova has been caught up in conflict as of late?" He had to be careful not to say anything that incriminated him personally. "An extremist group called Team Plasma, whose original goal was to liberate Pokemon from their trainers and now whose only goal seems to be of conquest, has caused the region to fall into... a bit of turmoil. But I suppose it makes life a little more exciting, hmm?" He smiled, a little unpleasantly.

Lucas scribbled down the facts quickly, almost tearing holes into the pages; he looked up and shook his head earnestly. “Not at all, Professor Colress; I’m getting all of this down,” he proudly answered. He was used to a professor’s babbling long talks about certain topics, and he was also an expert in speed-writing (which came in handy whenever Professor Rowan ever had a breakthrough theory about something).

Lucas continued to flip back to the previous pages of his notes when Colress paused. After he made sure that he wrote down everything the foreign Professor said, he glanced up at him to signal the older man to keep talking more about the far away region.

-

"Yes, I suppose," Colress replied off-hand. "As a researcher, however, it is sometimes difficult to be taken seriously when your hair makes your head look like a planet surrounded by an asteroid belt." He smiled slightly, although the topic of his hair was a rather tiresome one.

"Fire-types?" Colress thought for a moment. "To be perfectly honest, Unova is not abundant in Fire-types. However, both Pansear and Darumaka are fairly common. For a younger trainer, perhaps I would suggest the former, as they are easier to train. But that will be up to you to decide."

And they tell me I have crazy hair!

“Well I mean like, something like hair shouldn’t affect that. It’s not like you are setting their houses or labs on fire, that would be totally different. But, like, I mean… If I cut my hair every time someone told me to then I wouldn’t have my sweet fro.” He bit his lip. “Obviously you know your way ‘round here when I don’t, but think you could help? I was wondering how many fire types I could expect to find, cuz like, I’m trying to find one for my lil’ bro Buck and I’m only finding these pink things and bug types…” 

He hoped that the professor would be able to help him, but it really didn’t seem like anyone had an answer when there was masses of bugs everywhere. Maybe he should tell Aaron to come up here, the kid would enjoy it.

He could tell the boy was rather put off by his hairstyle by the way his eyes kept darting back to it, but he let it slide. "My name is Colress."

"Touya, hmm?" Colress replied. "I recognize the name. You caused a lot of trouble for Team Plasma, did you not?" His expression was hard to read.

Yet another person with with hair that simply made Touya staaaare…

Oh, wait, he was speaking to him, wasn’t he? Shaking his head back and forth, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to avert his gaze to the stranger’s face instead of his hair. “Hey there, my name’s Touya. Uh, it’s nice to meet’cha, I think…?”

"Well, like any place, there are cities that prefer to stick with a more traditional format, such as Icirrus City," Colress responded with an amused smile. "I doubt your grandfather was lying. More likely he was generalizing and if that was the case, then he was accurate, as most are. Most people have that view of Unova as a whole."

"If you are interested in the higher-tech areas of Unova," Colress continued, "Castelia is the biggest city, with tall skyscrapers, many ports, and a lot to do. It is accessed via the Skyarrow Bridge, which is a great feat of architecture in itself. Nimbasa City, though not as large, is also quite bustling - arguably even more so - as it holds the Battle Subway - which is the Unovian version of your Battle Frontier, is it not? - the Stadium and Court where sports games are played daily, the Musical Theater building, and an amusement park. Nimbasa is also home to one of the most famous trainers in Unova, Elesa, who is both an Electric-type gym leader and a model. Her gym is built to be a roller coaster, another great feat of architecture. Then there is Virbank, home to Pokestar Studios where many movies are filmed." He paused, seeing the boy writing rapidly. "Am I going too fast?" he queried, chuckling slightly.

 “‘Not all the cities are high-tech’?!” [the professor in training exclaimed with a slight pout.] “G-Grandfather lied to me…!”

[His disappointment quickly switched back to his questioning state; he wrote down that piece of information while mumbling that his grandfather lies.] “Well, I’d like to know every part of the region,” [Lucas said with a smile.] “But you can tell me about the city or town you know the best!”

[Lucas gave the blond professor (?) a look rich with high expectations; stars danced in the blue hues, hopefully encouraging the man to go on and on about the land.]

Indeed it is.

And... I suppose I could say that what I research is not a specific Pokemon, per se, but rather the idea of strength within Pokemon, and how to reach the highest strength potential within a Pokemon.

But I would not want to bore you with all the details of that. How about you, miss Touko? What do you do in regards to Pokemon?

“…

Pokemon researcher, huh? 

That’s… lucrative. Um, my name’s Touko… Is there — is there any Pokemon you specifically like to research?”

Geez, awkward much?

"No, I do understand your point," Colress said, choosing not to point out the rather frantic way in which the man tried to convey it. "However, while I do agree to some extent..." He paused, thinking of his own current... "work" situation with Team Plasma. "Oftentimes one cannot get what they want without going through the intermediary of another person or another group. Because, as much as one tries to be independent of others, one ultimately cannot exist as a singularity when so much in the world depends on social and business networks." It was a good thing he did not criticize the man on his locution, because his own was rather muddled and convoluted.

And they tell me I have crazy hair!

“Whoa, dude, you can’t just let people chop off your hair. Or, well, in this case, influence you to chop off your own hair.” He flailed his arms a bit. “Seriously, like, you gotta do things for you and not everyone else. Ya know? I mean… What kind of man would let others dictate their lives?” He tried to make his point clear,feeling like he had failed.

"...It is nice," Colress admitted after a moment, "to get out every once in a while and disregard the stresses of work and of life." He took a bite of his ice cream. "So yes, I suppose I am enjoying myself. And the dessert is quite tasty."

"If I may ask, are you a traveling trainer right now? I figure it is quite impolite to sit down for a treat with someone I do not even know."

The pair took a seat at a table for two across from the register. Lyra couldn’t help but smile as she licked her ice cream slowly, savoring it. She tapped her feet on the black and white tile floor looking over at Colress with a smile.

“Mhmm!” she nodded happily, taking a tiny bite of ice cream. “So how do you like it Colress?” she tilted her head and smiled widely. Lyra was having a lot of fun so far, but when did she not have fun?

Colress reflected that he had not eaten ice cream for a very long time. In fact, he hardly even remembered what flavors he used to like. He skimmed over the flavors critically with his gaze before ordering a lemon sorbet-type flavor. The last time he had eaten a lemon dessert, he had liked it, so there was no point in not trying. He got his in a cup to eat with a spoon, as frankly lemon in a cone was just a bizarre and uncomplimentary combination.

"Do you come here often?" Colress inquired, taking a bite of the ice cream. Yes, it was good. Perhaps he was grateful for coming here after all. No sense in not taking some time to relax every once in a while.

She bit her bottom lip and nodded walking in the door. “Thank you.” Lyra strolled inside and immediately went to the glass ice cream case and put her hands against it. She scanned the ice creams until she found one of her favorites, ‘Coconut Cream’.

“Oooh I’ll take this in a waffle cone!” she waved the worker over and he placed 2 scoops inside the cone and handed it to her smiling. Lyra handed him a couple poke dollars, and signaled for him to come over. “Colress come on! Come pick your flavor.” she smiled over at him and swayed back and forth on her heels, licking her ice cream.

"Yes, I suppose they are 'pro,' to some extent," Colress replied a bit off-hand. "Strong attack stat, for sure, especially when utilized to their full potential. The previous champion of the Unova region himself used one." He paused. "But, I am sure facts like that are only of interest to me."

"Well, I suppose," he added a moment later, in regards to his hair. "I have considered chopping it off at times, though, just so people will cease commenting on it. A comment not directed at you specifically, of course."

And they tell me I have crazy hair!

“Why would I be offended? Have you seen how pro those, what did you say they were? Bouffalant? I’ll just stick with Afro bull. Because those things are rad.” He rested his hands on his hips idly. “Thats so sweet that it does that all on your own..” He tried to see what colour the others eye brows were, they were so thin it was hard to tell. Man how come this guy gets all the cool fancy hair?

Colress smiled, still a little smugly, but it didn't seem like the girl noticed. No matter. He would humor her, after all. Even if he would rather be sitting in a lab experimenting at the moment, he would humor her. After all, he knew how to turn on the charm. It was a survival skill in this world, after all.

He walked in front of her and opened the door for her. "After you," he said, gesturing to the door and nodding politely.

Lyra nodded towards him. “Ooh yay you’re coming!” she exclaimed loudly and smiled. Lyra didn’t know exactly know how to get there… but she could find somewhere…

They walked around for a while until they stumbled upon a quaint ice cream parlor. “Here it is!” she motioned to the sign outside the door and smiled, feeling accomplished.

"...If you insist," he said, a small smirk flickering on his face. "Although it does feel a little proper and... not-quite-gentlemanly to be treated by a young woman  who I believe I am a fair amount older and more experienced than. But if it would tickle your fancy, so to speak, to have me accompany you, than I suppose I will tag along." He crossed his arms. "Lead the way, Miss Lyra."

“Yeah Yeah!” she raised her hands up in the air. “Well if you think it’s so childish then don’t come.” she stuck her tongue out.

“And yes I’m offering, ifya wanna come, then just follow me!” she put her hands on her cheeks and smiled.