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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 8:49 pm
It had been roughly a week since his expulsion from the University and his subsequent hurried e-mail to Aila. It had been a few days since she had arrived to help him regain possession of his pokemon and, less importantly, his research. He hadn't had much time yet to go through it and see how much he'd gotten back - all of it or only part of it - since arriving on base he'd been busy with training, and when he wasn't training he was cleaning and doing chores, both of which were completely foreign to him. To say that he would have a little trouble adapting to life in Team Rocket was probably the understatement of the century. Still, he didn't regret his decision (usually) despite how much he pined for a break and to go just sit in the woods for a while. He couldn't even leave to do that, and even if he did go outside, it would just be the desert. The barren, dry, lifeless desert, which was a stark and unsettling contrast to the vibrant forest life he was so used to. Still, he'd get used to it. Eventually. Hopefully. ...maybe.
So it was that on this particular day, Inigo found himself in one of the spacious training rooms, staring at his three pokemon with a confused expression and hands in his pockets. They had drilled it into his head that he needed to train himself as well as his pokemon - both of which were also foreign concepts to the brown-skinned teen - and that was what he'd intended to do in the training room that day. Except... he didn't even know where to start. Crap, training was hard.
None of his pokemon seemed to share his mild anxiety or confusion, however. His Meganium was standing next to him with an expression that conveyed her sheer amount of curiosity and enthusiasm for the room they were in - for she'd never seen one like it before - while a small Deerling rested up against the wall. Her coat was pink, but there were patches of green that were starting to crop up in some spots, most notably her head and back. On her back sat a rather uninteresting Snivy, who merely sat on her and studying his small hands as if he was incredibly bored and had absolutely nothing better to do. Once in a while he would fix a pointed, unimpressed glare at his trainer to convey his displeasure with being in such a bland room for no visible reason whatsoever, then continue studying his hands, rotating them and holding them out as if judging if they looked alright or not.
Inigo sighed again, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "Oi.." How the hell was he supposed to train them if he didn't even know where to start? This was going to be hard...
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 9:19 pm
"-Oof! Ouch!" Shawn turned to address the owner of the boot that had kicked him forcefully into the room. However, he was met with nothing but a closed door. "That hurt, y'know!" he yelled anyway, frustrated with his situation. He had been willing up 'til now to follow all basic training commands - all tasks assigned - without complaint. That wasn't easy for someone with a pride like Shawns, despite the humble background he had come from. Nevertheless, it had all been in vain if he still couldn't manage to avoid this in the end. Frost had been right. He needed to learn to train his pokemon sooner or later, and it seemed now was the time.
With a heavy sigh, he turned around, only to realize he wasn't alone in the room. The 16-year-old flinched, wondering just how much his audience had seen and what they now thought of him. "Uh...hi," he said quietly, not sure where to start. "Are you here to train too?" Duh, he told himself mentally, whacking himself on the head and rolling his eyes. These are the training facilities. Why else would he be here? He observed the older teen a little more closely. Not too close, though - there were those little monsters nearby. He doesn't seem to be doing much, though...is he waiting for something? Or someone? "H-hello...?" Perhaps he was in the wrong room?
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 9:46 pm
As soon as the door opened and the second human occupant was more or less shoved in, the small Deerling immediately jumped up - much to the acute displeasure of the Snivy, who fell back with an unexpected whump onto the floor - and immediately hid behind Inigo. She stared out at the other human with wide gray eyes, waiting to see if he made any sudden and/or hostile movements.
Her trainer, on the other hand, turned to the other trainee with a look of mild confusion and bemusement. He opened his mouth to reply when the other kid said hello a second time - maybe he was just impatient or something? Maybe nervous, maybe both. Eh, wasn't any of his business. "Si," he said with a small shrug, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. "At least, I'm supposed to. Not used to training pokemon though, so I'm not.. too sure what to do," which was alright to admit, since this kid looked a bit nervous too, or at least he seemed like it.
The large Meganium didn't notice any nervousness - probably due to her less than stellar intelligence - and immediately bounded over to the human. She stopped right in front of him, craning her neck so she could move her large head around and study him with large expressive gold eyes. "Niuuu," she crooned excitedly, curious to find out more about this newcomer.
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 7:11 am
Lucikly, Shawn was far too frightened to make any sudden or hostile movements. He was used to being cautious around his own pokemon, so he didn't really feel inclined to change his behavior around these strange, new ones. His nerves made him speak quickly, if quietly, and he felt bad for cutting off the other youth with his second greeting.
"S-sorry about that, I just...I dunno..." he trailed off, scratching th back of his head in embarrassment. "'Si'?" He repeated. "Oh. Spanish. Yeah...me niether." Casting a quickl glance over the other pokemon in the room, he tilted his head slighty. "But if you're not used to training them, how do you have so many...?"
All at once, without warning, the large, green creature with a bright flower around its neck came charging at Shawn. His sepia eyes widened and he froze on the spot. Too startled to make much of a sound, he merely whimpered quietly. It was enough, though. The pokeball in his pocket exploded and a Jolteon was suddenly standing before the Meganium, snarling and bristling with her fur shooting up electrical sparks maliciously. Her electrical charge only heightened when she realized her enemy was female.
she barked sharply at the grass-type. my human! You can't have him, so back off!>
Scared as he was, the boy knew that the appearance of Lindsay could only mean trouble. At least if anything broke out, they were in the proper room. "L-lindsay...down, girl..." he urged, his voice sounding meek even to his own ears. He could hardly hear it over the sound of Lindsay's static electricity, and he doubted she would have listened even if she had heard it. "Uh...sir? Could you...do something? Please?" His last word cracked a bit.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 1:43 pm
Wow, was this kid nervous or what? "Well," he said while rubbing the back of his neck again, "I've had just Leilani for like, eight years, and then I got these two almost at the same time. The Snivy - Dimitri - just kinda.. walked up and gave me his pokeball, and the Deerling - Fantasia - was a gift from my friend Aila," he explained with a shrug, trying to convey the fact that he hadn't gone out with the intentions of getting anymore, it just sort of... happened. His brows rose at the appearance of the rather upset-looking Jolteon, but Leilani's expression remained happily oblivious.
she chuckled, turning her large head towards the Jolteon. Balloon? She wasn't a balloon, that was just silly. and she liked to say hello to everyone. Though she hadn't seen many, Jolteons were always so interesting.
"Do something?" Inigo repeated, mildly confused. What did he mean..? Oh, but he looked really nervous..? Maybe he just wasn't used to such tall pokemon or something, so with a small shrug he addressed the large grass-type instead. "Leilani, ven aquí." The large Meganium lifted her head before bounding over to her owner and nuzzling his shoulder with a happy "niuu!" He smiled and patted her large nose before turning to Shawn again and indicating the Jolteon with a small wave of one hand. "What's her problem? She just protective?" Possessive wasn't a word that came to mind.
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 3:40 pm
"I-I don't know," Shawn remarked, looking just as spooked of his own pokemon as Inigo's. At least the Meganium, though significantly larger than the Jolteon, didn't seem quite so full of hatred. "I, er, I guess pokemon like you, then...?" he asked, having caught the older teen's explaination of how Inigo had obtained his pokemon despite his own panic.
mine,> Lindsay reinstated. Though said grass-type was very likely more powerful and experienced than the young-evolved eeveeloution, the Jolteon seemed to know no fear. She spoke with the authority and aggression of a pokemon thrice her real level, thoroughly convinced she could back up such talk if she needed to. Once Leilani was bounding back to her own trainer, Lindsay, satisfied, went to settle herself at Shawn's feet. The boy sighed.
"Sorry about that," he found himself apologizing once more. "I...I don't know much about pokemon. Not training them, at least. I just know that they're dangerous, so I'm used to avoiding them." At the very least, Leilani wasn't a ghost or poison-type. Those were the ones he got nightmares about. "Heh...Leilani, huh?" he spoke up. "That's a pretty name. Did you...did you name her yourself?"
Shawn just seemed to want to make normal conversation, perhaps to divert attention from his odd, fearful behavior. However, Lindsay didn't like his attention focusing on the other female pokemon. Her lips drew back in a snarl, baring her teeth in a low growl as Leilani nuzzled Inigo. Was she trying to show off her bond with her own owner? Was she trying to say that it was better than the bond between Lindsay and Shawn? Well, Lindsay would show her. Her dark, amber eyes locked loathsomely on the other pair.
"Um...Lindsay just..." He seemed uncertain as to how to explain his own pokemon's behavior. None of the other pokemon he had seen around the base behaved like her, no matter how badly they acted. She seemed to have a purpose behind her actions, but what? "I guess she's protective, but half the time I'm not even in trouble..." Not that he assumed to know anything about female or pokemon, but if Lindsay were a human girl, the best comparison Shawn could make to her actions were parallel to those of human jealousy. After all, he had begun to notice a pattern, and it was that the Jolteon acted most viciously toward other females, whether pokemon or human. It was just an absurd theory, though, and he didn't want to get laughed at for voicing it aloud. "I'll bet she just needs some more training. I was told she was in storage a long time before she escaped and they gave her to me."
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 4:47 pm
Pokemon liked him? Huh. "I guess so," he said with a shrug, "though only one of them actually chose to be mine, and he's... Well," a wave gestured towards the Snivy on the floor, who was sitting with his back to all of them and completely ignoring them all. Leilani didn't seem to notice Lindsay's hostility at all, and continued to nuzzle into Inigo's shoulder and hand, though when the strange boy mentioned her name and then the word 'pretty' she looked over to him and crooned a happy "niuuu!"
While the large grass type and Dimitri were both unaware and ignoring (respectively) the Jolteon's hostile attitude, the slender Deerling that continued to hide behind Inigo's legs did not. The boy seemed fine - timid too - but the electric-type was not to be trusted.
"Yeah I did," Inigo said with a lop-sided grin, rubbing the back of his neck again. "I named her that when I got her as a Chikorita when I was 10. I don't know too much about training either, to be honest, but pokemon really aren't dangerous," why would he think they were? ...well, with a Jolteon like that, it was sort of obvious. "Nah, they're usually not. I know some are mischievous and some can be.. possessive," said while eying the still upset-looking Lindsay, "but overall I don't think they are. Leilani wouldn't hurt a fly, though she can be protective when she wants to be," which usually was never, but several unpleasant occasions did come to mind.
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 5:30 pm
Shawn tried to smile, but it was a wavering one at best. Despite what seemed to be a lack of immediate danger, there were still four pokemon in the room. A room that he was trapped in for who knew how long. "It...still seems that they're devoted to you." he replied, jumping a little at Leilani's unexpected sound. Good for that guy. At least there was a less of a chance his pokemon would turn on him, even if there were a great many more than Shawn felt he could ever be comfortable around.
As the Snivy appeared to ignore Lindsay, she ignored him, unconcerned with him anyway for the main point that he was male. The Deerling, though...the Jolteon didn't like her at all. She and the Meganium were just too...well, attractive for her not to perceive them as threats. What if Shawn would choose to abandon her for a pokemon like one of them? Next to the other two, Lindsay would never admit it, but she felt...ugly. All bristly and angry and spikey-furred, and not feminine in the slightest.
"Wow, you must have had her a long time, then," Shawn remarked, almost admiringly. His eyes narrowed and his tone changed when Inigo claimed that pokemon weren't dangerous, though. "That's where you're wrong," he said softly. "I'm from Goldenrod City. We have a lot of urban pokemon there - ghost-types and poison-types mostly. Us street kids were warned about the ghost-types since we were infants - how they suck the souls of humans and feed on their dreams in their sleep..." He shivered visibly.
"And the poison types...one of them killed my mother." It was an accident, really; indirect, but the pokemon didn't give a damn. To this day, he blamed the Muk for killing the one person in the world who had loved him. As for his father...the old man had abandoned him shortly after his mother had passed away. All because of pokemon. Lindsay had suddenly brushed against his pant leg, looking up at him with the sadness she saw reflected in his own face while trying to make him feel better. Cautiously, he reached down a hand to pat her head.
"...But what if that's just what they want us to think?" Shawn asked the other dark-skinned teen. "What if we just take their loyalty for granted and one day they decide to destroy us all? We'd have no defense."
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 5:50 pm
"Leilani is for sure," Inigo affirmed with a grin, reaching up to pet the Meganium again who replied with a happy coo before nuzzling his shoulder again. "I guess Fantasia is, but I'm not sure about Dimitri.. I think he has his own agenda." The Snivy looked at his trainer out of the corner of one eye before giving a huff and returning to studying his small hands. If he had fingernails, he'd be making sure they were spotless.
The electric-type was looking at her. The prey instincts in her made her shrink back behind Inigo's legs, staring out at the Jolteon with wide, fearful gray eyes. Any minute now the Jolteon would lunge at her, but she would be ready to run as fast as her thin legs could carry her.
"Si, she'll be nine years old this year," Inigo said with a hint of pride in his voice, patting the Meganium's head before slinging an arm over the back of her neck. She made a great armrest. His brows furrowed at the mention of ghost-types though. "I'm not usually a fan of ghosts myself, but they can be useful. Aila has an awesome one that was a big help, a Mismagius." A pretty one too. "I like grass- and poison-types," he admitted, "but sorry about your mom." Awkward fidget. "Why the hell would they want to destroy us all?" It was a laughable thought, though he tried to avoid chuckling at it. "I mean, I guess some of them might be jerks like that, but saying all of them are is like.. like... Like saying all people are crazy axe murderers or something." Seriously, what was with this kid? Was he that scared of pokemon or something?
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 6:17 pm
"Well...if he chose you, then he must have some reason...right?" Looking at Dimitri, though, Shawn had a hard time picturing the pokemon caring if he had a trainer at all. His old paranoia started up again and he wondered if the grass-type had some devious, ulterior motives. Was it Shawn's imagination or was it acting peculiarly humanoid?
That was right...Lindsay wanted the Deerling scared. Was that it's name, Fantasia? she growled.
"Nine years old? Huh...Lindsay, stop that, please? They're friends, okay? Be good." Immediately the Jolteon calmed and sat on her haunches, but her dark amber eyes did not leave Fantasia's large grey ones. "...Useful? Pfft, yeah, if you want to scare the wits out of your opponent. Or leave them soul-less," Shawn added bitterly.
"I even heard this rumor that this gym leader's parents had their souls sucked out by some Haunter. They're damn creepy." Creepy as they were, though, those and poison-types were the ones he knew best, having lived around them in the alley ways most of his life. Though he knew very little about pokemon outside of Johto or even outside his hometown of Goldenrod, the urban pokemon were his specialty when it came to knowledge.
Grass-types were okay, he guessed. Well, about as okay as any pokemon could be in the street kid's eyes. He didn't want pity for his mother - that was all in the past now - but he felt the heat rising to his face as he heard the incredulity in the other guy's tone. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was just his paranoia again. His sepia eyes dropped to the ground in shame. "...Okay, look. I'm pokephobic. I have what is - in some people's opinion - an 'irrational' fear of pokemon. Not that I think there's anything irrational about it...but hey, who isn't scared of something, right?"
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 7:14 pm
"I guess so," he shrugged, looking down at the Snivy again, who glared up at the humans and waved his tiny hand in a distinctively dismissive motion.
Oh no, it was going to eat her! Fantasia began to tremble and curled up even more until the only visible part of her peeking out from behind the teen's legs were her nose and one very wide, very frightened gray eye. She didn't trust the Jolteon's words in the slightest - if she wanted to eat her she very well could run at her any moment, whether she went near the other human or not. She had no intention of leaving the sanctity of her hiding spot anyway, unless the electric-type made a move towards her.
Leilani finally noticed Lindsay's hostility - took long enough - and lowered her head to be in the Jolteon's line of sight, giving her a very obvious displeased frown. she said with a huff, antennae twitching slightly. Inigo noticed the behavior of the two of them as well, frowning at Lindsay before leaning down to give the timid deer a reassuring pat on the head, then straightened up. "Actually, her Mismagius went ahead to scout for us and let us know if anyone was coming so we wouldn't get caught." If that wasn't useful, then he didn't know what was. Cue more awkward shuffling at the mention of phobias and irrational fears. "Nah, man, I totally understand what you mean, don't worry," though he wouldn't admit why or how he understood, of course.
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 11:21 pm
"Huh? What's the matter?" Shawn asked, noting Fantasia's odd behavior. She reminded him of how he felt about now. What was she afraid of, though? He followed her gaze to - oh. That explained things.
"Lindsay, please don't do that," he asked his pokemon, feeling bolder in his commands with someone else around. Someone who pokemon seemed to obey. "If you aren't nice, you're going to have to go back in your pokeball. Do you want that?" He held up the ball. "Remember what you did to poor Grunt Frost? I promised him that sort of thing wouldn't happen again. Please don't make me liar."
The Jolteon blinked. Shawn had never spoken so much to her before. He had also never asked so much from her before - or been so sincere in his request. Could this mean he finally recognized her loyalty to him? With a delighted, "Jol!" the electric-type was suddenly as tame as a sprightly, young eevee, and just as playful too. "Joooolteon Jol, jol!" Leilani's words were sadly lost on her as she frolicked about her trainer's feet, eager to do his bidding.
Unfortunately, this only seemed to unnerve him more. "Uhh...what? What is it?" He tried to follow her with his eyes as she danced about, drawing a blank. If only they could speak English! "Um...yeah...just be nice. Like...like that, I guess..." A little more enthusiastic than he'd pictured, but at least she wasn't the epitome of jealousy anymore.
With a sigh and a helpless smile, Shawn looked back to Inigo, who had begun to speak again. "Whoa, wait, who's Mismagius was this now? The one you mentioned earlier?" He blinked. "I...guess that could be useful, if you can train them that well. Huh...I didn't think about that." Not that he thought he could ever trust the things. Sure, maybe they were helpful once in a while to the people who fed and took care of them, but once their trainers were sleeping or their backs were turned, who knew what they did. From what he'd heard, ghosts didn't sleep.
"Thanks, dude," the street kid said in gratitude. "Oh, er...my codename here is Trainee Shadow...I guess." He shrugged."Not like anyone called me by a proper name anywhere else." With a meaningful look at Lindsay, he walked slowly over to the other Rocket to sit beside him, crossing his legs draped in extremely baggy jeans that may have been a size or two too large. "You got family?"
Lindsay settled on his otherside, as far as possible away from the other pokemon. As long as she couldn't see them, she couldn't hate them, and as long as she couldn't hate them, she wouldn't feel like attacking. As long as she didn't attack, Shawn would love her just like she loved him in return. Simple needs, really.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 11:06 pm
Well, this Jolteon certainly was... rather odd. Growling and hostile one minute, and acting like a little Eevee the next. Weird. "I don't know what you're so worried about," Inigo said with a shrug as Leilani laid down with a loud, dull fhwump and laid her head in his lap, "she seems to like you, so I don't think you need to worry about her hurting you. Oh, and it was Aila's Mismagius, Revenant. Aila's an agent," he explained as he stroked Leilani's head.
"Shadow?" Weird. "My name's Inigo," he offered back, watching as Fantasia quickly scurried to hide behind Leilani instead, since that was farther away from Lindsay than Inigo's legs. The mention of family, however, made him shift a bit uncomfortably. "Yeah, sort of. They live in Sandalwood." He still felt bad for leaving, but he still didn't think there were any other options available to him.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 9:04 am
"Just because she likes me doesn't mean I'm invulnerable to her," Shawn sighed. "I still have to stay on her good side. It's like walking on eggshells," he added in a whisper. "Aila, huh? I don't think I've seen her or met her yet." Luckily. He was pretty sure he had embarrassed himself in front of all the other agents he had met so far.
"Er, yeah. It's actually a nickname my friend and I came up with when we used to mess around and pretend to be 'heros' on the city streets," he explained bashfully. "We just took letters from our names and put them together. Like, his was Flint Adare, so we turned it into 'Flare'. Thought it would work okay for a codename." He nodded at Inigo's introduction. "Cool name. So that's your real one? Are you an agent too?"
Shawn watched the pokemon move about, surprised how they seemed to support each other as much as their trainer. The minor distraction didn't cause him to miss the uneasy shift in Inigo's movements, however. "Oh." To ask, or not to ask...? Probably not. "So, um...mind me asking why you joined Team Rocket?" He didn't have family, so he didn't have anything to lose, but what about Inigo? Was he even allowed to visit them? Did he want to...?
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 10:47 am
"Uh, sort of," he said with a sheepish chuckle, stroking Leilani's large nose. "It's short for Ignacio. And nah, I'm a trainee, I joined not too long ago. What about you?" Well, Flare was a weirder name than Shadow, but it was none of his business, so whatever. "Really? Aila's really nice." If it wasn't for her, he might never have seen Leilani ever again, among other things.
"Uhh," cue another obviously awkward shift, "Aila asked me. Or recruited, whatever the word is. I joined so I could do more research on grass-types and stuff, though I can't really do anything as a trainee besides clean." Which he'd had minimal experience with before joining. "How about you? Why'd you join?"
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