Clue: Shaychu Edition

Violet's face brightened slightly as she nodded and said, "Oh! You were the extremely polite challenger, I remember you... Smiled when you lost the first time and everything if memory serves..." as she said this, the ghost on her lap hopped up and landed on the man's lap, looking him over closely and curiously...

Atticus hung around his photo studio preparing his camera with the best of the best gear for this party that he'd been invited to take photos of for the whatever company would buy them from him. Atticus looked towards the walls and saw plenty of news paper articles and magazine covers featuring his work until his Pidove flown right up to Atticus carrying a note probably from his roommate/translator who either wrote him a note or told him in person whenver something is up. Atticus gently took the note off Pidove's little talon and patted his head and Pidove proceeded to fly and land on Atticus's shoulders. It read as the following

"Dude where are you? You're late, and it looks like there is already another Photographer here it doesn't look very good for you. From Derick"

Atticus stared at the note with anger and thought how could they replace him, was it because he was mute and couldn't speak to any interviewers without his Translator? Atticus crumpled the note and threw it across the room where his Pidgey proceeded to pick it up and bring it back. Looking around he remembered how he became mute and how he was a Flying Type Specialist and still was only if his translator/roommate was there with him to translate his thoughts to words for his flying friends to understand. Atticus smiled at all his feathered friends and took the note and threw it out probably and whistled as his pokemon flew around him, taking some pokemon treats he fed them and he took the Camera with a high flash and scope lenses with a blinking sensitivity feature as to take multiple photos to find a suitable one where nobody is blinking. Grabbed a black strapped and clipped it to the camera and slung it onto his back and his Tailow decided to come with him so he grabbed his sunglasses, his motorcycle keys and Tailow's pokeball, put the glasses on, put the pokeball in his pocket, put Tailow on his shoulder's and started the ignition and rode off towards the mansion. After a bit he came up to the mansion and gave the Valet his keys and ran inside where Derick ran up to him "Dude where've you've been" than proceeded to drag Atticus towards a crowd and pointed out the other photographer who'd apparantly replaced him. "That's Suraliana, she's apparently an Artist as well as a Photographer" Derick said seeming to have a bit much to drink. Atticus responded back in sign language "We'll see about that" and grabbing his camera and clicking the on button and the Camera roaring to life as it showed a frame of Suraliana also shooting pictures of other people. Atticus smiled and zoomed in a close as he could and click the capture button where the flash shot out and blinded almost everyone else around him. In the flash he escaped somewhere else into the party and looked at the picture and thought to himself "Suraliana, looks like I've met my match" and with that he scoped out the party for some big celebrities.

Atticus would see several big names in business standing in small clusters around the room, although instead of soft conversation it was more rubbing the spots from their eyes from the blinding flash a moment ago.

((stark is fairly famous. from snowpoint in sinnoh, he owns the manufacturing plants for the pokemon capture balls))


The photographer's flash makes Stark pause awkwardly as he attempts to regain his vision. Soon he's managed this and replies, "Of course. A loss is just as valuable as a victory is." he smiles, reaching up with his gloved hand to gently pet the mismagius in his lap, "How has your gym been going since I've visited?"

"It's been doing fine, sir..." Violet said, grinning a bit as the mismagius frowned and seemed to look over the gentleman for a moment, before nodding, and then nuzzling him softly... "It's missed you, you know... I'd love to give you the Emerald badge..."

"Just as I'd love to return and visit Emerald Island again. Certain things in my life have come up that require I stay home much more. I doubt I'll be able to travel very much for a while." he replies with a smile, "This night being the exception, naturally, as it is somewhat business related."

"Of course..." Violet chuckled, as she reached down and touched a spare pokeball on her sash, seemingly out of instinct or just a reaction to Stark's words as she said, "Perhaps we may battle later, time and conditions permitting... Mm, speaking of which... Who exactly is here?" asked the witch, as the female ghost climbed her insubstantial body onto Stark's shoulder and sat there, a tad proudly...

"Ah, well. Many of them are contacts of Mr. Neils and I." Stark replies, glancing up to scan the crowd and see those gathered, "There's Mr. Saffron. He's a successful stock broker based in Saffron City. A tad ruthless and cold, however." he says, continuing to glance around, "Malkoff Crimson is Mr. Neils' partner. He's aggressive both in his work and his everyday life. Ulrik Emerald is here as well, I see. He comes from a family of well known jewelers." he pauses, humming softly, "I do have to question his morals at times, though..." he replies, shaking his head gently, "I don't mean to gossip or speak ill of them. It's mere honesty." he expleains before returning his gaze to the crowd, "There are two women I'm afraid I don't recognize. They may be new acquaintances of Mr. Neils that I haven't met yet."

Following the bulter further into the mansion, Mia notices that there a lot of pokemon attending the party also. Smiling, she opens her small purse. Inside she spotted her three pokeballs and pulled out one.

Whispering she pressed the center button, "Join us Lucario." The fox pokemon stood before her. "Welcome to the party," she told him. Lucario growled softly to his trainer and looked around. He noticed the several pokemon next to their trainers.

"Come Lucario," Mia commands as she leads her way to a drink table and picks up a glass of wine. Sitting next to the wine glasses was a large bowl of fuit punch. "Would you like a glass?" Lucario looked up to his trainer with joy. "Alright," she said and poured him a small glass. "Go easy on this. I dont want you bouncing off the walls in a sugar high. Do you understand me?" Lucario took the class in one hand and saluted with the other making a small chruping sound as he did.

"Great, let's go find a place to sit down," Mia said looking about the ballroom. She noticed a small area with a handsome young man and purple dressed woman, who reminded her alot of a witch (due to the impressions of her hat.)

As she approched them, she realized they were in conversation, so she quietly sulked to a chair near them and sat down.

"I see..." Violet said. Her knuckles whitened as she heard the nearby chair creaking, but of course, her pale eyes didn't move from their straight ahead stare... She seemed to concentrate for a moment before she said, "And one of whom has just sat down near us, hm?"

The very slight knitting of her eyebrows was all it took, and instantly, the Mismagius hopped back to Violet's shoulder, (the one that wasn't already occupied by a crobat), as she stared over at the female unsuredly. The ampharos's tail gently wrapped around Violet's chair as well, a seemingly protective gesture...

"Indeed." Stark replies softly as he looks up to the trainer and her lucario, "Hello, Miss." he greets her, "Did you need something?"

"Oh, no. I just... um..." Shyness creeps over her, so she decides to tell the truth. "I don't know a single person here. I'm sorry if I'm interupting anything," Mia said blushing.

Violet reached up and pulled her hatbrim down to obscure her face as she said, "Not paticularly, I don't think... We were just wondering about the so called party, is all..."

"Only a bit of catching up, really." he replies, leaning back in his chair a bit as he reaches over to a side table for a teacup. He takes a small sip of the gently steaming beverage before continuing, "And I believe Mr. Neils' intention is that you get to know the people here at the party whether you come here knowing anyone or not." he smiles, lowering the cup to his lap, "Of course, the best way to accomplish that is an introduction, isn't it?" he adds, extending his hand to her gently, "My name is Stark Jones, capture ball manufacturing tycoon. You may simply call me Stark, however." he smiles, "May I ask your name, Miss?"

Surprised by the youth and power, she replied, "Mia Swix, daughter of Seaa and Vox Swix. Mr. Neils is a customer of my parents oddities shop, specializing in rare pokemon. I'm here in place of them. I must say, its an honor meeting you Mr. Jones." Mia caught a glimpse of the woman Stark was talking to. She looked farely familair, though Mia knew they had never met before.
"Excuse me, but have I seen you somewhere before?" Mia said, directing her voice to the familar woman.

Violet heard the woman speak to her, and sighed softly... But she couldn't exactly hide in the shadows at this point... So she gently ground her teeth together before saying, "Violet. Violet Bates. Leader of the Gym of Emerald Isle and professional ghost type breeder. You may have heard of me through your parents or perhaps you tried to challenge me once..." she said, as politely as she could before she nudged her hat gently again..

"Sorry to bother you, as I said, I know no one here." Glancing to her Lucario, who had his snout burried in his glass of punch, "I tend to focus more on my pokemon than I do my human relationships."

"Hmm, I said the same thing before I was married... And in fact, I am still rather isolated with my family, so... I don't know..." commented the witch, as she gently took her ghost in her arms and hugged her softly... The ghost looked the Lucario over with the same critical eye as anything as she kept an eye on him. She didn't like the way he moved, and was, as usual, suspicious...

"Oddly enough, I was much the same way before I met my wife." Stark adds, a sort of longing love expression coming over his face briefly before he returns to the conversation as a grandfather clock tolls the 7th hour.
"Seven at night." Stark notes, "Mr. Neils told us things would start to pick up around this time..."
Just as he says this, a door is opened on the the far side of the room, producing an averagely built man dressed in a sharp black tuxedo walking with his head held high and proud.
Several members of the crowd turn to look as he approaches, gesturing for everyone to gather around him as if he were about to give a speech.
"There he is. Right on time, Mr. Neils." Stark says softly with a gentle smile as he watches the scene.
"Good evening, Ladies and Gentleman!" Mr. Neils bellows in an amazingly loud voice, "I welcome you to my home this night and would like to thank each and every one of you personally for coming to this gathering. I can't do that just yet, of course, because it is seven o' clock in the evening. Time for the dinner segment of this dinner party, not?" he smiles, gathering several nods and murrmurs of agreement from the crowd.
"Well then! If you'll all be so kind as to follow me back to the dining room, the service can begin."

Edward glances over to the main living area and decides to sit alone after encouraging Raticate to behave.
"Theres so many people..", thought Edward. "Maybe i should try to talk to that white haired guy with the glasses, he looks oddly familiar." Edward walks over to say hello when all of a sudden he sees two other people talking with him. Very shortly after he sees Stark point that Mr. Neils is welcoming everyone to the party, and very eagerly follows everyone into the dining room.

Violet cringes when she hears the man's voice, shaking her head slightly... But she stood as she heard footsteps moving in a uniform direction, and began to walk forward slightly... Her mismagius hopped up onto her shoulder, and her ampharos quickly moved to her side, taking her hand in his large paw and guiding her along to the dining room with the others...

With a crobat on her shoulder, her mismagius on her other, and an ampharos guiding her, Violet looked like quite the odd trainer...

Suraliana looks around the party and notices the white haired man talking to two ladies. She recognizes him. Stark Jones. "He's famous" she thought to herself. She walks over to him and the ladies. "Um... Excuse me, Mr. Jones. May I take a picture of you for the magazine articles?"

Knowing he was late, Hugh had to run to make it before he got any later. He had heard from his friends that there would be cake. Beads of sweat rolling down his face, he sprinted down the street. He was as determined as he was hungry, but then again, Mr. Jass was always hungry. Hugh ran, ran as hard as he could and slammed open the massive, wooden doors to the mansion. (Hugh had to work out frequently to keep all the pounds he got from eating cake off.) He exploded into the ballroom, and screamed with all the energy in his body..

"WHERE DA CAKE AT?"

Ignoring all the people in the room, he landed his eyes on a white vanilla cake at a table, and he dashed for it. In all his years, he had never seen such a sweet, succulent looking cake. It was white as snow, topped with strawberries, raspberries, and cherries, all blood red. It was a quadruple decker cake, meaning it would last for quite a while. Hugh dove into the cake and began to eat.

Mia glances back and forth. She watched the guests gather in the dinning room and decided to join them also. Looking down to Lucario, she sighed softly. He had tossed his glass to the floor and was slightly shaking from the sugar high that was beginning to set in.
"Oh great," she said as she rolled her eyes. "Come on," she took Lucario's paw and began to lead him to the dinning room. Lucario's eyes scanned the room and finally he spotted the cake with the random person stuffing his face. Anxious to join him, Lucario tugged on Mia's hand.
"No. No. No, no no no no!" Mia told him sternly. She shot a jeering stare towards the rude and strange boy. "Let's go," she tells him and tugs him away to the dinning room.

Stark had just risen from his chair when a photographer approaches him, a young female with an arcanine following her.
The large fire dog pokemon manages to draw a low growl from the luxray on the floor as she pushes herself up and trots over to her master, standing between him and the perceived threat.
Stark reaches down to her, running his thin fingers through the lion's mane to calm his pokemon as he replies, "Of course." he nods, smiling gently to her as the others all file through another set of double doors leading into the dining room.

Malkoff Crimson emerges from the crowd surrounding Mr. Neils, putting one arm around the man's shoulder and holding a fresh glass of brandy in the other, "So how did the new merger turn out? Did they give in like we thought?" he mutters softly to his partner, taking a sip of his drink.
"They took a bit of persuading." Richard Neils replies, "Only an extra 5 million." he adds.
The crowd nearby is suddenly sprayed by a shower of brandy as Malkoff is caught by surprise, "And you agreed to that??" he growls, removing his hand from his partner's shoulder.
Mr. Neils sighs, rolling his eyes with a grin, "Yes. Now. Business aside, Malkoff, this is a party. Have fun, for once." he states, moving away and leaving Crimson standing there to fume slightly.
Malkoff grips his glass dangerously tight, threatening to break the fragile glass, "You fool." he growls, "It's that sort of reckless deal making that KILLS businesses..." he mutters as he's left behind by the crowd.

The dining room itself is set with several round tables, each surrounded by 5 white chairs and covered with a red silk cloth.
Mr. Neils moves quickly through the room to one of the head tables while the rest of the guests filter through the tables to find where they're supposed to sit but soon finding there were no tags labeling the place settings...
"Everyone, please. Sit anywhere you like." Neils calls over the room, "Find someone you maybe haven't met yet and sit down with them, meet them and converse."
The green cloaked man, Ulrik Emerald, does just that. He takes the blue Ms. Lazuli by the hand and finds a table to sit down with her, striking up a conversation almost instantly.
Mr. Saffron does much the same (by himself, however), choosing a table near the back of the room. He's soon joined by the meek Miss Lilac, however the two don't seem to have much to say to each other...

And this is where Violet stuck, standing to one side of the doorway as her Ampharos glanced around, not exactly knowing what to do. He could lead Violet just fine, but... This was a bit much for him. Same with Ms. Alice, who scanned the room carefully... In the end, Violet just decided that she would wait for a bit for everything to quiet down before she found an empty seat and sat...