Title: Departure Character: Kohl + Location: Katarina Timeframe: Just before the departure of the SS Extrasensory cruise WC:489
Kohl looked over the grubby flier again. They had been plastered to practically every tree on the trail into town for a good quarter mile. Sure, maybe it was too good to be true- “free” wasn’t necessarily without strings attached. Maybe there would be an Order of the Blue Water seminar to sit through, or one of those bleeding heart Plasma groupies signing pledges to free all the cute little torchick and spoink into the wild, but if there was free food, sitting through the crap was worth it, especially if they didn’t police the buffet. She’d be bringing an extra pack, just in case.
She’d been into town earlier to check it out and sure enough, there was a boat waiting for passengers in the harbor. And there didn’t even seem to be any cultists! They’d scowled at her train of followers, though- the dull sauropod, her russet mount, the dumb blue puppy still carrying around that rock he’d picked up somewhere around Katarina. They straggled after her, munching the topiaries, glaring at townspeople, or getting underfoot in the crowded wharf. The doorman had pointed to the “one pokemon” clause and given the herbivore, who was chewing thoughtfully on a bundle of silk flowers from a street vender’s display, a look that said “not that one”.
Kohl pondered as she picked out an earthy spot behind a warehouse and gestured for Taka to dig. The gear went into a tarp wrapped bundle after she separated out a few necessities and was coverd with soil. Tree Trunk Leg’s pokeball, a scrap of rope and a pebble made a bell for its long neck, like those miltank set loose in common pastures to graze. She figured people would assume she was owned and leave her alone that way. A mostly empty pack contained a spare, her knife, repair kit, ect - she wanted to leave room for the spoils, whether the cruise planned that attendees would bring back any or not.
Who to take? Taka has been her companion longer, but she didn’t trust Worf, who took a moment to itch an ear and fell over, to take care of himself unsupervised. And Taka? She couldn’t trust him not to ditch the pup in a canyon and cause a stampede. No, Worf couldn’t be left alone. Taka couldn’t be left alone with him, and the cow… she was wondering whether picking it up had been such a great idea. It hadn’t fruited once. What was the point if you couldn’t eat it? “Ok, pup, you’re with me, and you two…?” She rolled her eyes at the surly glare the red arcainine gave her as he paused in smoothing the furrows in his fur the harness had made. The tropius blinked mildly. “Don’t get caught.”
Kohl flapped her hand towards her thigh for Worf as she turned from her crew and headed back towards town. “See you in a few days.”
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 6:49 pm
Title: Tyger, Tyger Character: Taka & Zira Location: Outside Katarina Timeframe: Just after Departure WC: 697 (461 attraction)
Taka scowled as he watched his human disappear into the town. She hadn’t even taken the time to curry him down before she went off on her little adventure. He huffed and rose to stretch, fluffing out his mane with a shake of his head. He didn’t need her to coddle him like a pet, he thought and broke into a snappy trot into the wild woods, but she could at least remember that brush once in a while. It was only his due, after all.
Some distance away from town, a rangy buff colored Liepard crouched in the brush, still as a stone and intensely focused on her prey. The pickings were slim so close to the hated “civilization”, nothing but weak little rattata and underfed zubat. She hadn’t raided a caravan in days. How she lusted after the herds of zebstika and bouffalaunt of her native range! Yet, as unappetizing as this tatty sack of bones before her was, any meal was better than the knot in her gut. She sprang.
A strangled screech caught Taka’s ear like nothing else could. No predator can resist such a sweet death-cry. He shoved through a layer of dense underbrush and came upon an …alluring sight.
The liepard lifted her head, face delicately dressed in a frosting of crimson, her eyes gleaming baleful, blood red like ancient, dying stars. The graceful curves of her back-turned ears and glistening fangs, of the muscles under her tawny coat that shivered like ripples in a stream. Entranced, infatuated, he stalked forward with a hint of a swagger to his whisper soft steps. He murmured, "...what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry..?"
The great she-cat's stiff snarl froze and thawed a little at the arcanine's quiet line. As the great maned pokemon approached she found herself drawn in by the smooth confident rhythm of his gate. Forgetting that she still straddled the sad little corpse, she took a step forward.
He strode around her slowly, appraising, his thoughts still given a soft glow by the affects of her charm. What a vision of beauty to find on my path this night! He thought, lost in her woods wild scent. "What might I call you?" he purred, nuzzling her neck.
She tensed as he closed in, unsure, confused. She'd never been courted before. She was boney - she preferred "lean." She was harsh - they were undeserving of any better. They were merely intimidated by her greatness. Still, it meant the same thing. Alone. Was he just toying with her? She lashed out and spat, "Don't take such liberties with me, dog!" her obsidian claws raking harmlessly through his coal black mane.
"Will you be having it that way, then, cat?" He said, between a purr and a growl, thick as syrup. He slid into a challenging bow and met her fiery stare with a long, smug smile.
It was too much for her pride. The spell broke. She bristled at his audacity. She slashed, he dodged. They grappled and bit, struck and parried, and after a while they were both breathing heavily at each-other from opposite sides of the clearing. Cotton fluffs of black and buff fur drifted slowly towards the ground in the still afternoon air.
He broke the glaring contest first, relaxing into a confident saunter to the center of the field where the contested meat lay, placing a paw on the long cold kill and reaching down to take bite - but he paused, teeth inches away, and turned green eyes to the female. "You, my dear, are quite the warrior. " After a long silence, he licked his lips, stood, and loped away.
She watched him go, torn. He'd invaded her territory, stolen her food, and challenged her, yet, she couldn't help seeing the power, the strength. He was regal. A smile began to twist her black lips as she thought about what might happen next time they met. She shook her head sharply with renewed bitterness and stalked to her burglarized prey.
She gaped in surprise. He'd left her the lion's share of the kill. Her wicked heart skipped a beat.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 6:50 pm
Title: Met by Moonlight Characters: Taka and Zira Location: Wilderness Timeframe: After Tyger, Tyger, After Kohl and Worf return from the SS Extrasensory cruise WC:613
That evening, Taka gritted his teeth at having to go through such infantile charades. He fidgeted, wiggled, and grumbled discontentedly until his trainer became sick of his antics and removed his tack. There is something to be said about playing nice with the keeper. He smiled a feline smile as she dropped away into sleep, and, pleased, loped off into the evening.
Zira paced in a small clearing. The grass lay trampled beneath her paws, and here and there she flexed her claws into the soil, tearing furrows into it in aggravation. She had trailed him for several days. For nights she had awaited his coming, and yet still nothing.
The arcanine pointedly tread upon a branch as he entered the clearing where the female liepard paced in what looked like neatly controlled frenzy. The retort sounded almost demanding and her lovely head shot up painted with a fierce snarl.
“Taka,” Zira sneered and spat. “You come to me wearing that vile man-stink?”
Taka narrowed his eyes at the implicit insult and tensed. Their first encounter had not been exactly . . . cordial.
She ignored his shift into a more hostile stance, swinging away from vitriolic. “Come away with me. That human wench is not worthy of your loyalty. Turn your eyes away from humans and regard your own species.” Zira snarled, half circling before the statuesque canine pokemon.
Taka huffed lightly. “Madam, I must point out that we two are not precisely the same species, ourselves,” he said with the edge to his voice, looking down at the earnest, mad – seeming queen.
She stood taller, prouder. “It matters naught. Our get will be the get of kings. Generations of our mighty offspring will rule the Grasslands. Together we will topple the bloated pretender-kings that cast me- cast us out to suffer these privations in the world of men. See the wear that mars your crimson hide, etched into you by bondage to that human she-wolf. She uses you. She abuses you. Be free of her!”
Many of her words struck a cord in him. It was not difficult to find chinks in the already discontent Arcanine’s armor. His human companion did not treat him with the respect he deserved, requiring of him that he carry her gear, herself, and that he endure the company of the lesser species that frequently became hangers-on to their pack of two. She required of him more than he would like… but never more than he could give- in truth he felt she kept the idiot child around for his benefit – much to his ire- it meant he was not needed to face petty combatants. She may not have provided him a bounty, but she shared her kills, and if he went without, so did she. Unlike many humans she did not begrudge him the pleasure of the hunt, nor inflict on him the indecency of living trapped within the choking void of a pokeball, but she clamored over his person like a jungle gym. And she was the one who had cared for him when he was newly exiled, injured, shamed. He growled wordlessly.
The sandy leonine rose on her hindquarters to butt his chin and rubbed her shoulder along his side. “Come away with me,” she purred again, more softly.
“I cannot make that decision at this time.” He managed, sounding aloof. Inside he was sour with conflict.
She leaned into his mane, wuffing his scent she’d so hated at the night’s beginning, “Make it soon, my lord.”
A flush of pleasure lifted the fur along his spine at her endearment. He leaned down, placing a lick on her bowed forehead, “Perhaps, my lady.”
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 8:37 pm
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 2:13 pm
Title: Child’s Play (backstory) Timeline: 6 months before Finn Leaves for Inhinx Location: near Grandpa’s cabin (between Freezeland and Kasfsas Mountains) Characters: Cloudrunner and Stormcaller
"No, no, no-" Cloudrunner was hustled out of the warm cabin by her human's hairy leader. "Not in the cabin, boy, dog pokemon belong outside!"
"Aww, but she gets cold!-" the door slammed, cutting off the two human's conversation.
The young pokemon sighed, breath shattering into mist in the chilly air. Well, at least Cael was safe inside, mostly. She wondered about the big one sometimes. Oh! She should explore! At a year old, she didn't get to explore without her boy very often! She darted out past the other pokemon's kennels and into the brush beyond.
She ended up standing on a damp log, looking out on the black and white landscape, sniffing, listening, ears flicking around for something interesting to investigate, straining at the edge her senses-
"You're weird. What kind’a of poochyena are you?" a pup poochyena asked suddenly from behind her.
She jumped. He shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on her like that! She recovered, "I'm not wired! And I'm not a Poochyena!" Cloud yipped, affronted. She held her head high, "Cael says I'm adorable."
"What's a kale? Sounds like a grass pokemon," The dark one scoffed, unimpressed.
"Cael is my human! I keep him out of trouble!"
"Humans are dumb. If it can't take care if itself, it shouldn't be up to pokemon to save it", he said, and immediately stepped into a snowdrift and sunk out of sight. He leaped but couldn't reach the snow's surface, jump by fruitless jump plowing a longer path. The little female laughed and jumped down into his trench and gave him a boost, then leapt lightly out. He glowered. That'd ruined the effect of his self sufficiency speech.
"Can't you tell how deep it is?" she asked. She wouldn't have been able to manage if she couldn't sense it. Her paws broke through the crust too easily. She assumed all pokemon could, since the mighyena on the team never seemed to fall through.
"Of course. I meant to do that." He lied, puffing up proudly "So what are you, a white rattata?" he teased, changing the subject, play-bowing and wagging his huge tail in the air.
"And you're a black ratatta!" she barked, pouncing at him. His eyes widened as her leap exceeded his expectations and they toppled together, tumbling in the snow, playfully wrestling, and ended up tangled and tired in a puppy pile.
"No really," Storm asked, breathless from beneath her, "What are you?"
Cloudrunner laughed again and tugged on is ear. “You aren’t very clever, are you?” She whispered, carefully pronouncing- “Ri-o-lu”
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 2:14 pm
SRP Title: Stormclouds Timeline: In trip to Inhinx Location: Outskirts of Spirit Forest Characters: Cloudrunner and Stormcaller
Cloudrunner lay curled in a bowl shaped depression in the snow by a burnt out campfire. She could sense a Pokémon approaching, but wasn’t concerned. She could deal with an oversized poochyena without much effort, but she didn’t think she’d have to. He didn’t smell aggressive. Actually, he seemed familiar…
A cat-call preceded him “Hey, there, how about a roll in the snow with a big, strong 'yena like me?”
She groaned inwardly and looked up as the young poochena swaggered into view. “You're a lot shorter than I remember.”
He sputtered. “What?”
“Just as clever, though.”
“Thank you, now about that roll-“
“Not interested. My master will be back soon and if you attack him I WILL thrash you.”
“’Master’? What, you running with humans?”
“Are you nosedead, too?”
“Th-th-th-fire blocks out scent!” He covered, embarrassed.
“It's nice. Food, warmth, and companionship- my boy fawns all over me... You look a bit tattered. You could use a brushing.”
Offended, “I look fantastic!”
“Hah. Sure you do.”
“....” This time her sarcasm was not lost on him.
“....”
“.... Wait, you’re that little white b***h from the human den by the mountain? You look . . . different.” He paused, taking her in. Even curled up as she was, he could tell she was long and lean and just as strange as he remembered, but much …nicer, like a pecha tree covered in that spidery frost stuff. And huge.
“It's called evolving, try it sometime.” she said dryly. Cloudrunner buried her pointed muzzle in the brush of her tail and feigned sleep.
Stormcaller sat watching her thoughtfully. He didn't like being ignored, but it was probably true that the larger female could thrash him. That alone gave him reason hesitate – to change strategy. Considering his original strategy had never really worked before, this was a blessing, not that he’d ever see it that way.
Stormclouds rolled over the moon. Without its light everything seemed a little bit colder. The white lucario shivered and curled tighter. Stormcaller lay down and tentatively inched foreward, nudging her with his paw. “Hey, when will your human be back?”
“He should be back now,” she murmured and tried to hide her long ears in her ruff.
He squirmed closer and cuddled up against her. "I'll stay with you until he comes back."
…Some time later…
“Oh no! The fire is out! Poor Cloud!” Cael cried and hurried into camp, tossing down a bag of supplies and a bundle of wood. As he struck a match he saw a dark shape streak away into the night. Alarmed, he looked for Cloudrunner, but she was there, looking cozy, with another impression in the snow next to her.
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 7:51 pm
Title: WIP Character/s: Kohl, Worf, Alyx, Duane, ect Location/s: Cruise Ship, Outside Katarina Timeframe: After Felicity Island Event Word Count: WIP
Kohl raised an eyebrow at the little creature that had just broken free of it's shell. "A cat, Worf? Really?" She flicked a piece of blue shell off the shiny electrike's shoulder as she peered at it. "I'd have though you'd have ate a cat before you'd-"
Worf looked up at his trainer, confused. He looked back at the tiny purrloin in the egg pack, confused. He looked down at the bits of eggshell scattered around his paws, confused. He'd only been following orders? 'Play nice', she'd said?
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 5:12 am
Title: The shape of the morning Character/s: Cael, Cloudrunner, Kitechaser Location/s: A waystation, Rinaul Mountans Timeframe: After Suicune rocket meta, After witty title, before battles Word Count: 487
Cael stroked Cloudrunner’s pale shoulder drowsily. The lucario’s head rested on top of the bedroll over his knees, the dying firelight washing her with a soft orange, which was slowly being replaced with the warmer, softer glow of morning light. Last winter he'd seen a dark poochyena lurking around. This spring, there’s been two mysterious eggs (Where did pokemon come from? We just don’t know!). The two little riolu that had hatched so recently were obviously Cloud’s… but the dark one, Kite, definitely had a look about it that reminded Cael of that wild pokemon that he’d only glimpsed before. Maybe, he though, as he dozed off again in the early morning sunshine, maybe he could tame it if it ever came around again…
Tiny black rimmed ears perked up. Gold eyes gleamed. Human was asleep. Mother was asleep. It was not asleep. It was waiting. Wait was over. Its big paws itched to explore! Kite wiggled out from under the sleeping cloth. Human leg twitched, mouth twitched, outside shape twitched, but human did not wake. Proud of it’s great stealth, Kite toddled out of the wooden shelter, head high! Kite bounced with excitement! Outside! Sun! Leaves! Dirt!!! Kite was going to find things, and eat things. Many things!
Kite sniffed under every leaf. Kite followed smells. Kite chased butterfree. Kite ran from butterfree. Mean bug! Kite fast, Kite slap bug. Bug flee. Kite proud again! Kite practice standing and slapping leaf, pretending it was mean butterfree bug. Leaf dead, in bits. Eat leaf. Kite is good and strong. Leaf is not good, though, bleh.
Sun became bright. More pokemon awake. More noise. More sights. Kite frowned. World was cluttered now, Kite flattened ears, squinted, closed eyes. No help. This bright thing… was in head? Kite growled at the head shapes. Go away! Mad shapes, huge and sharp, hungry shapes, happy shapes. Loud, bright, too much!!! But it does not care that Kite shows it the teeth. Fine! Kite return home! Humph!
Kite enters shelter, curls up next to mother, hugs tail, and sleeps. Kite was busy, but day was too full of things. Home quiet. Headshapes are all good and soft, now. Mother makes them good. Warm. Soothing. Kite sleeps.
Cloudrunner smooths her sleeping offspring’s fur and plucks out a bit of dry leaf. Kite was never in much danger, she could sense the surrounding area, and most of the pokemon were peaceful or too weak to pose too much of a threat. The puppy could explore while still feeling independent. She approved of such tame “adventures” like the one her little one just returned from, just outside the traveler’s waystation. Wild, but not too wild. Safe, but not too safe. They build character, they build strength, and they provide an outlet to work out that bottomless energy that all young things seemed to have in abundance.
She lets herself fall into real slumber, this time.
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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 11:48 pm
Title: Training montage! Character/s: Cael, Kitechaser, Cloudrunner Location/s: Wilderness outside Kararina Timeframe: After battles in Katarina Stadium. Word Count: 543
Cael watched his newest pokemon with both affection and exhaustion. The riolu was still very much a puppy. Big floppy paws, legs always held in the silliest poses – but it was still a Fighting type, so all that awkward puppy energy went right into … well . . . breaking things, mostly, he thought with a tired sigh. Cloud hadn’t been this bad!
Cael was still too overwhelmed by the busyness and size of big cities to stay in one too long. Cael now camped in a small clearing off one of the footpaths north of Katarina. They’ve been there less than two days, having recently returned from the city, proper. The battles they’d had in the stadium made Cael realize that he didn’t really know how to battle, and neither did Kite. Cloud was so good at it, he never really had to do much except…well, he didn’t have to do anything. Cloud could beat anything up pretty good if it needed it, and she could be really scary if she wanted to be! But Kite, Kite wasn’t scary, and it couldn’t beat much of anything up that wasn’t being nice and letting it happen. Kite rushed in headlong, paws flailing, and more often than not tripped over it’s own feet and caused more damage that way than because it intended to. Not that it couldn’t do damage – Kite could definitely break things! -Broken snowshoes, torn pack straps, broken tree branches, toppled signs, scattered displays… he had to leave the city before Kite got them in trouble. Where do pokeballs even come from, he wondered? He never had to use one with Cloud, but Kite….
Cael whistled. “Kite!”
Kite fought the stick. It was tough, but the stick was doomed! With one strike, Kite would -Bite. Paw, bitebite shhhhhhake-
“Kite!!!”
Kite dropped the thoroughly destroyed stick and bounded over to Cael, tail waving.
He held out his hand, palm up, “Paw”
Bat, bat!
“No, give me your paw,”
Wump, Kite slapped it’s forepaw into Cael’s offered hand. The young trainer spread the pokemon’s toes and checked for splinters or hurts. Kite fidgeted and whined. Cael booped it’s nose and kept going, then began.
“Kite, we need to work together better. Those pokemon were holding back, and we still lost. But you’re a strong puppy! You’re Kitechaser, out of Cloudrunner! We can do it if we practice! Now, what kind of attacks can you do?” Cael encouraged.
Kite put up its dukes, snapped its teeth, and tilted its soft, wedge shaped head slightly. “‘olu?”
Cael smiled, “I know that, but we need –special- techniques!” just biting and punching weren’t going to be enough. …if only there was an encyclopedia just on pokemon, he thought- he could check the index for “riolu”, flip to the page, and there'd be all kinds of info! It would be so useful! Why didn’t they have that? Grandpa’s bookshelf was great! But it didn’t have anything on riolu. : (
Cloudrunner, who’d been watching the pair from the shade of a big and only slightly dismantled tree, stood, stretched, and huffed. It was clear that the two children were getting no where. She strode over. Let mother show them how it was done.
Title: A cat and a dog Character/s: xander and kite Location/s: katarina Timeframe: future Word Count: 329
The first sign that day that something was very wrong with the world was the cascade of scree that rattled down the hill behind the housing complex. No one ever approached from the back. It faced the overgrown outskirts of town, a wall of raw stucco and grim black iron railing looking out at nothing worth looking at. Only tramps and bandits skulked in such quiet trash bag ridded places. But they were of no concern to a cat.
What followed the slithering litter down shortly was, however.
The cat arched his back. The dog looked across the gap, tongue lolling in good natured greeting. Xander just glowered from his fire escape perch, his liepard tail twitching, its blue gray fur erect. "Go away, dog."
The dog, however, did not comply. Of course not. That would be too easy.
"Hello cat!" She chirped from eye level, just barely too far away to touch. "Play?" The young lucario reached out at the balcony ledge while speaking, but couldn't quite reach. One paw wavered in the air while the others slipped in last winters leaves.
Xander watched through the bottom grate as the fighting type lost it's purchase and slid below. "No," he sniffed, not taking his half lidded gaze off her.
Her own unwavering stare was less dignified, upside down. "Awww, not even a little?" She puffed, "no chase? There's a field with great butterfree..." she cajoled, reaching upward and threading her little white toes through the woven platform. One barely brushed the liepard's creamy fur.
He moved his paw away.
Undeterred, she pressed her nose up to the bars. "Please?"
He grimaced. His fur undulated in discomfort. It just wasn't right that puppy dog eyes should work on a cat. "Fine" he growled, covering her black nose with a soft paw. "But only for the butterfree's sake, we can't let them go soft."
Xander stretched and casually leaped down to join the lucario.
And that was the second sign.
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 10:38 am
Title: Night In Character/s: Xander and Kite Location/s: katarina Timeframe: more future Word Count: 407
Kite launched herself at the fire escape, catching the rails and swinging. He wasn't here? She hooked her toes in, too, braced, and called, "Helooo, cat.!?!"
Xander smirked at her from the roof, above. "I have a name, you know"
Nonplussed, the black and white lucario continued the conversation, suspended, through the hatched metal. "Do I know it?" she asked. It was an honest question, names didn't stick well for her. Her own name was very long but "Kite" was the important part. She let her feet dangle and tried to remember.
The cat stilled in thought and fought off a frown, realizing he had never given it. They'd gotten on so well with just "cat" and "dog" he hadn't realized. He coughed. "I am Xander."
"Kite," she barked back with a nod "-Do you live here?" She asked.
"I live where I want," he boasted.
"That's great, me too!!!"
He was taken off guard. He hadn't expected-
"I just got done living in a desert, that was dry," she complained excitedly," (how can one complain excitedly?). "-before that it was a grassland, and -"
"It has been a while since I've seen you around, I guess," he wondered aloud, interrupting. "You're quite the Ranger, aren't you," he quipped, "lasso any pokemon lately?" It was meant to be snide, but-
"We caught a deer!" The perky lucario supplied. "A sawsbuck," she corrected proudly.
He was beginning to feel unmanned by this female, figurative king as he was of just one crowded apartment in the city...
She interrupted his thoughts this time. "My Trainer is getting supplies in town, so do you want to explore?" The fit lucario flipped up to the balcony then hopped up the rest of the levels. She flopped herself familiarly on top of the shiny cat. "There's a big pond full of goldeen down past the old quarry!"
He shrugged habitually away from the contact ,"mind the fur" he muttered through teeth. Only for her....
Kite just laughed and shifted mostly off so she could batt at his head instead. He rolled his eyes an tried to remove his tail from under her, but failed. With what dignity he could recollect, he declined. "It's late for a trip that long, plus, you might fall in."
"You might fall in" she retorted.
He huffed.
She grinned.
They were quiet for a moment, before Kite, of course, broke the silence.
