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| Welcome to The Aerei Region. We hope you enjoy your visit. Aerei is a large island somewhere off the coast of Hoenn, currently attempting to register for Pokemon League status. So far we have Gyms and our own Elite Four, we have tournaments, competitions, contests, and some very strange people to meet on your journeys. Register to get your first pokemon and begin your journey! -Join us- If you're already a member please log in to your account: |
| Fulfilling Every Need; no, not like that | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 14 2012, 06:03 PM (587 Views) | |
| shadowcat | Jul 14 2012, 06:03 PM Post #1 |
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The Almighty
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The boat let off a deafening blare as it pulled into the docks, making Elliot jump from his daydream. The sea foamed where the boat had cut through it, rippling out so that it distorted the near-crystal clear waters and made the reef sway. A Corsola floated from plant to plant, looking up at the ship and then darting into the shadows under the dock. Elliot smiled to himself. A profound thought was buzzing through his mind but he didn't yet know what it was. Despite that, it excited him and he wanted to share it with his friend. Saxen was frowning at his tea, occasionally lifting up the label to dunk the teabag in and out of the cup. He raised it finally to his lips but then lowered it again as the people all around him started to get up and make their way towards the exit and onto land. "Pokemon." His eyes darted to the right. Elliot was sitting down opposite him, looking excited, even though they should have been moving to leave like everyone else. Saxen raised his eyebrows, lifting the cup to his mouth again. The steam was hot against his upper lip, sensitive from his aftershave. "New place, new pokemon. Untouched, unseen by us. Tree falling in woods. Schrödinger's cat," Elliot continued, waving his arms, willing his friend to understand the excitement in his head, because clearly he didn't understand it himself. "Like, this place didn't really exist, not really, until we came here?" Saxen asked, his mouth curling into a smile that his friend couldn't see through the polystyrene cup. He finally tilted back his head and drank it. It wasn't too hot at all. Just right. He stopped and sighed, putting the cup back onto the table. "It's not going to be like Hoenn. This island is dangerous." He nodded to the overweight, overexcited tourists who had come with them for a day trip from Lilycove. "We're not just doing what they are; we're launching ourselves into the belly of the beast, so to speak." He resumed frowning at the tea, swirling in his hand. There was a tiny bug floating in it. Had that happened before or after he'd drunk some? "There will be parts of this island that no human eyes have ever seen," Elliot said, shifting in his chair, eyes flashing. Saxen shrugged, unsure if that could be true. "From a purely psychological point of view, we have the potential to create here, you know? In Hoenn we walked the footsteps of our superiors and predecessors; here, we can make history. Here we can be the ones who tread paths into the grass. You know?" Saxen shrugged again, and then stood and tossed the cup over the railings and into the schlooping, foaming sea, the milky tea creating a stain that floated towards perhaps the same Corsola from earlier, making it dart away once again. "Let's go make our mark, then," he said, readjusting the straps on his bag and leading the way off of the deck and past the ushering cabin crew. He took a deep breath before he stepped onto Aerei land, ensuring that the first thing he did was breathe out. This way, he would add some Saxen to Aerei before Aerei could infiltrate Saxen. The things he'd heard about this place... Honestly, it was hard to believe them when he looked around. It was no Hoenn, that was for sure. The shipyard workers had slightly different accents, for a start, and the weather was a touch colder, but there was something else. Sure the city they had docked in was pleasant enough: cafés and souvenir shops and kiosks and sun, and little children with ice cream cones; but there was something sinister if you squinted at the horizon. Not a cloud in the sky right now, but something hung in the atmosphere nonetheless. He smiled a little again before turning to Elliot, wondering what his friend was thinking about their first foray into such a legendary place. A place that had shaped their lives before they had even cared about its existence. They had circled this drain for years and now they were finally here. It was like meeting a celebrity in person and wondering why you were afraid of them. They were only human, like you, after all. But still it was awe-inspiring. "We're here," Saxen said pleasantly, trying to cut through into Elliot's churning mind. His friend closed his mouth and smiled. "We're home?" he replied, testing the waters with the comment. There was a pause, and then they both shook their heads. Not just yet. |
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Credits: 208 Matthew Kitty Scott Elliot and Saxen
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| shadowcat | Jul 14 2012, 06:41 PM Post #2 |
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The Almighty
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There was so much to do in this new land that it was quite overwhelming for the two boys. Saxen pulled to the left, looking towards the enormous topiary garden framed by a large black fence, but Elliot was drawn to the right, towards coffee shops and a place to sit and watch the sea. When Saxen noticed the view they would have from the cafés of the burly dock workers, he hated himself for the fact that this swayed his decision, but followed his friend to sit on the white patterned chairs outside one of the overpriced tourist coffee shops. He allowed himself one glance at the topless men, but then his attention was on Elliot and on Aerei. "Are you hungry?" Elliot asked, eyebrows raised and fixed on the menu. "If you felt like spending 300AD on a fried egg and toast you will not be disappointed." Saxen felt his stomach simultaneously growl and churn at the thought of eating so soon after the long boat ride. He was hungry, though. "How much is it in PokeDollars?" he asked, realising neither of them had thought to convert their money. Elliot looked up to the sky in thought, then his blue eyes flicked back down to Saxen's. "A lot." Saxen shrugged, but then looked up a little like a Buneary caught in the headlights when the pretty young waitress approached them. "Would you like anything?" she asked in a voice that tinkled. Her eyes were fixed pretty much only on Elliot, Saxen noted, as usual, though his friend didn't seem to have noticed, as usual. "I just want some toast, please," Elliot told her, hardly looking at her even though her eyes bored into his skull. "Great choice," she tinkled, though Saxen guessed she would have said that if Elliot had ordered a turd wrapped in tin foil. He sighed loudly. "And you?" she asked him, eyes flicking up to his juvenile hairstyle. It was always the same with women. If they were looking for a man, they would look to Elliot first. When they had to turn to him, they would look at his over-gelled hair and then deem him immature. That was his theory, anyway. Women didn't seem to really like him all that much. "Just some tea," he told her politely, handing over his menu. He had no idea how they were going to pay for this. Did Elliot have a plan that didn't involve running out on the bill? Saxen wouldn't have been above that plan, certainly, but to his knowledge his friend had never done anything of the sort. When the waitress was gone, he leaned across the sun-warmed white table and said in a low voice, "They don't accept Hoenn money here." It would be just like Elliot to have changed his money without consulting it with Saxen, but then he would need to pay his friend back somehow. Instead, Elliot paled, and Saxen cursed inwardly. They would be getting no food, drinks or shelter for quite a while. PokeDollars they had aplenty, but he didn't even know how to change money, let alone where, when or why. Ok, he knew why. His stomach rumbled and churned again, a horrible combination of seasickness and famine. He watched dumbly as his friend walked inside the shop to discuss their problem with the staff - a problem he would likely have had to solve himself if it was something he wasn't alright with just walking away from. Elliot wasn't one for confrontation, or talking to other people in general, for that matter. He arrived back outside, pink and smiling. Saxen stood up, expecting them to be on their way, but Elliot shook his head. "I told the manager our situation, and he said it actually happened all the time, but normally when people realised they just ran." He laughed a little, and Saxen would have joined in if it hadn't been exactly what he had been thinking of doing. "He said that he actually needed a favour from some trainers, and out of habit I said that we were, and would definitely help him. Then when I remembered we don't have our pokemon, I was too embarrassed to tell him." He reddened further. "I'll tell him," Saxen said, moving towards the door, used to having to be the one who communicated to the outside world anyway. "I'll apologise and we'll just move on and figure out how to get money." "They said that if we do him this favour, we can eat free for the rest of the day," Elliot added just as Saxen stepped through into the air-conditioned café. "Free food for the day, you say." Saxen stroked his chin in a mock sage manner, making his friend grin. "Let's go become powerful trainers in the next half hour, then. Come on. Where did he tell us to go?" Elliot chuckled good-humouredly. "Follow me. He said we needed to take out the Raticate that's moved into the alley behind the café before it attracts Rattata into the kitchen." "How are we going to defeat a Raticate with our bare hands?" "Mind...power," Elliot said mysteriously, waving his hands. "We'll bamboozle it as we would with a mugger." That prompted a laugh from Saxen. "Remember what to say to a bully if it approaches, children?" he asked, mimicking the words of their headmistress. In unison they thrust out their hands and yelled 'STOP!' and then faded around the corner in fits of giggles at the memory. Edited by shadowcat, Jul 14 2012, 06:46 PM.
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Credits: 208 Matthew Kitty Scott Elliot and Saxen
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| shadowcat | Jul 23 2012, 03:52 AM Post #3 |
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The Almighty
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The alleyway behind the café was just as one would have expected. Dark, dank and slightly smelly, blocked off from sunlight by the awnings and strung out washing from the apartments above. The Raticate nest was immediately obvious to the boys, tucked under the lid of a skip balancing on a pile of crates. It looked disgusting to Saxen, all damp and chewed, and with a wrinkled nose he opened his mouth to tell his friend that they were leaving: there was nothing here, but Elliot seemed to have different ideas. Before Saxen could say anything, his friend was kneeling next to the nest, a look of confusion on his face and hands picking at the wet, stinking shreds of paper and cardboard. "What are you doing?" Saxen asked, nose wrinkled, squinting for a better look. There was no way he was going any closer. Elliot seemed to know this, and kindly brought the horrible mess to him instead. "Look," he said simply, dangling a semi-ripped piece of card in front of the other boy's face, causing him to flinch. Undeterred by his friend's reaction, Elliot thrust it even further forward. "Look." "Duuuude, gross," Saxen complained, flapping his hands around as he stepped backwards, but whatever was printed on the paper caught his eye, finally. Happy Hamburger Café!. "Oh..." he said, knowingly, as if he had cracked it. But he had nothing else to say. "Oh." A pause. "I don't get it." Elliot grinned, pulling back the soggy, stained paper to look at it. "The whole nest is made up of napkins from the Happy Hamburger Café. Isn't that suspicious?" His blue eyes glinted, the possibility of scandal lighting up his entire face. "It's not suspicious. It's convenience. They probably threw the napkins out and the Raticate made a nest out of them." Saxen shrugged. "No, that's the thing!" Elliot interrupted. "This is the Elegant Lilligant Café. The Happy Hamburger Café is down the road." He stopped triumphantly, mouth stretched into a wide smile. When it was clear that Saxen had not come to a similar conclusion, or any at all, he continued. "There's no way they'd bring their trash all the way down here for the Raticate to just stumble across. That means they had to provide its nest, or they moved the nest from the back of their shop to behind this one. You get it?" "What, so, they like," Saxen struggled, trying his best to keep on his friend's wavelength, "they like, sent the Raticate here, maybe?" Elliot nodded, beaming. Saxen grinned too. "Awesome!" He paused. "Well, ok, not awesome for this guy who's getting set up, or whatever." "But you know why it is awesome?" Elliot prompted with a glint in his eye. "Because it means we can stick our noses in and save the day?" Saxen asked, tilting his head. "Exactly!" *** The first hour of super sleuthing had begun, and the two boys were strolling down the road, having forgotten how to look casual and nonchalant, sticking their noses in the air and swinging their arms as they walked towards the Happy Hamburger Café. On casual inspection, the café was nothing to be particularly suspicious of; all smiling employees and young children hanging off their parents' fingertips and jabbing grubby fingers towards the play area in desperation. It was a lot bigger, shinier and more successful than the Elegant Lilligant. "Probably trying to squish the competition while it's still small," Elliot observed, answering a question that hadn't been asked. With a start, they realised how strange it looked, that they were glaring eagerly into a restaurant filled with tiny children. They cleared their throats and moved away, bumping into each other at first, and then twisting to go sit on a bench overlooking the sea, hearts pounding. They hadn't had a good scandal to unearth since the last time they had crossed paths with Umbra, and that had been a good few years ago by now. As they sat, watching the waves crash against the new-looking harbour again and again, as if confused as to why its path was being blocked, they allowed themselves to think of some sort of plan in silence. Finally, Elliot spoke, and Saxen let out the breath he'd been holding. "We need to find that Raticate," he said finally. "We need to find the Raticate and get rid of it and then we get free food." Saxen looked at him dubiously, eyebrow cocked. That was their plan? He could have come up with that. But Elliot wasn't done. "So, how do we find a Raticate?" Elliot turned to him, and he realised that it was his turn to think of something smart. "Tracking pokemon?" he heard himself saying, and as soon as it came out of his mouth he noticed it wasn't actually a bad idea. He smiled, claiming it. "What, like, we find a pokemon who'd be willing to track the Raticate for us?" Elliot repeated, then turned back around to chew on his lip. "We'd need to very quickly find one, and gain its trust, and convey to it what we want." But Saxen wasn't listening. Something heartbreaking had caught his eye, and he was watching it sniff around at a heap of chum by a fishing boat, flinching backwards as it was scolded by an angry worker, tail between its legs. "Saxen?" Elliot jabbed at his ribs to get his attention. Saxen sighed, the Poochyena ducking away into the shadows of another alley as the fishermen shouted at it. "Ah, you utter buffoon," he said fondly, "a Poochyena; that's perfect." With a start, Saxen realised this was true. He'd been staring at it, trying so hard to remain perfectly stoic that he had forgotten to think at the same time. A Poochyena was perfect. The first part of their plan was coming together. "What do we do about the evil plot by the Happy Hamburger lot?" he asked, following Elliot as he carefully made his way closer to the chum bucket the puppy pokemon had been sniffing at. "We let that unfold organically," Elliot mumbled as he crept, eyes darting, and it was a very typical Elliot thing to say. |
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Credits: 208 Matthew Kitty Scott Elliot and Saxen
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| shadowcat | Jul 23 2012, 09:27 AM Post #4 |
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The Almighty
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It was their first ever Contest and they were nervous, to say the least; great big Beautiflies bounced around in their stomachs, and they exchanged a psyching-up grin, trainer to pokemon. None of them had ever really been interested in the lifestyle of the coordinator. For them, it was the science and strategy of battling; the brute force, the power, the companionship that only true strength could bring forth. But when they accidentally signed themselves up for the Contest, instead of rectifying this mistake, they dove in head first, practising a routine, forcing the rest of the group to attend the entire thing with enormous 'Go Go Saxen and Cole!' banners that had cost a fortune to get printed out. The day of the Appeals finally came around, and Saxen was frightened. Too scared to go on stage in front of all those people - in front of his friends - and make a fool of himself by splattering the audience with his personality. Battling was easier, not just because it was more clear-cut and there were firmer rules, but because it was easy to hide yourself during a battle. During a Contest, everyone watched you, and for just a moment, everyone knew who you really were. "I feel sick," he moaned loudly to anyone who would listen. Kitty laughed right in his face and he buried his head back into his pillow with a groan. "You're fine," she said, giving him a friendly cuff around his exposed ear. "Anyway, you can't back out now. Look out the window." Throughout their routine practising, Cole had had particular trouble with one thing: the transition from Thief to Taunt to Torment. Saxen hadn't been too bothered with the smoothness of the move, shouting out some constructive criticism here and there but really just rubbing his face and thinking that everybody knew this routine spoke to them as thieves. Everyone would know. Arceus, everyone would know. But he looked out of the window now and saw his glossy, freshly-washed and groomed battle-hardened Mightyena, who had barked in the face of Death itself, trying to bounce forwards and Thieve the poffins from a low branch before lurching backwards to Taunt and Torment, taking extra care to waggle sassily to a pretend audience. "Cole!" Saxen shouted, and his Mightyena stiffened, clearly embarrassed about having been caught doing something so silly. It was clear the pokemon felt that his less than perfect performance was the reason for his trainer's reluctance to compete now. "Stop that," the boy laughed, seeing the expression on the wolf pokemon's face, "you're getting your coat all dirty." They won that Contest, and never competed in one ever again. *** "What you thinking?" Elliot asked, seeing his friend's eyes flick left and right in deep thought as they neared the Poochyena. "That I'm hungry," Saxen replied with a dismissing shrug. Elliot smiled. "I miss my team, too," he said, and then without warning he darted forwards and scooped warm fish guts from the chum bucket while the sailors were not looking, and, trying not to gag, jogged over to the shadows in which the Poochyena watched, confused. On closer inspection, the Dark type pokemon appeared to have a pleasantly brindled coat. "Here you go, buddy," he said, allowing the horrible chum to splat onto the hot concrete. The puppy cocked his head at the strange, panting, grinning boy, and then waddled forwards to sniff at it, then dug in, gorging himself on the meat. Saxen grimaced as the smell hit him. "It has to be stray," he said, "no owned pokemon would be hungry enough to eat that stuff." Elliot nodded, eyes fixed almost manically on the poor thing. "What now?" "Hey, uh, Poochyena?" Elliot said, hiking up his jeans so he could crouch in front of it. It didn't look up from its rancid meal. "Do you think you could do us a favour?" No response. "Great, thanks. We just need you to sniff this nest over down there, and then see if you can lead us to whatever lived in it. Ok?" The puppy had now finished all the fish on the floor and was licking the stained concrete with a flat, pink tongue. "Awesome, thanks, follow me." He walked away, heading with a purpose to the alleyway containing the nest, and Saxen would have snorted in some sort of derision at his friend's presumption that the pokemon would follow, but he knew from experience that it would. Pokemon just seemed to like Elliot. Which would have been great if Elliot liked pokemon in general. As it was, only a very small handful of pokemon had ever wormed their way into the boy's heart. Still, the little puppy trotted behind Elliot's confident strides, tongue lolling. Maybe it had misunderstood; maybe it thought there was more food to come. Saxen would have loved for pokemon to treat him that way, like he was exactly what they had always wanted. Actually, for any living being to treat him that way...but that was a gripe for a different time. In the alleyway, the boys attempted to prepare themselves for the possibility that the Raticate would be back and they would have to borrow the Poochyena's strength for a bit. Whether the puppy would be alright with this or not was uncertain. No Raticate. So far, so good. But when they approached the nest, something flapped away from it in fright, disappearing up into the bright blue sky. "What was that? That was definitely not a Raticate," Saxen said dimly. Elliot was still staring into the sky in awe. The handful of pokemon who had stolen his heart were pretty much exclusively bird pokemon. He was simply in awe of them. "Murkrow," he replied, "but that one was darker than the normal indigo. It was almost black. Very pretty." "Uh huh," Saxen said, feigning interest out of politeness, but Elliot didn't necessarily care if he cared or not. He was lost, squinting at the small patch of sky visible from the alleyway, thinking something that would probably never be voiced. "Anyway, Poochyena, could you get your nose in there and see if you can lead us to the occupant of that nest?" The puppy obliged, and Saxen let out a breath in a puff of air. Elliot's life must have been so much easier than his; people just did what he wanted, because he had this air about him. He didn't know how it worked because it worked on him, too. The Poochyena snuffled at the nest, glanced upwards, and then woofed and waggled his rear end in a way that painfully reminded Saxen of Cole. The boys followed the puppy pokemon out of the alleyway, having no idea if it had understood their command at all, and down the promenade overlooking the harbour, hoping that nobody thought their behaviour strange enough to question it. Sure enough, the pup skittered to a halt, tongue lolling, right outside the doors to the Happy Hamburger. A woman exited the cafe, abruptly yanking her toddler away from the dirty little dog as she went. The opening was enough for the Poochyena, and it slipped inside before the door shut and scampered through the restaurant, hurtling between the legs of a waitress and causing her to drop and shatter a bowl of soup. At that point, the boys burst in, crimson with embarrassment, and attempted to corner the puppy before it caused any more damage. The Poochyena, however, treated the ensuing chase scene as a game, and darted under tables, jumping over handbags, swerving around shouting waiters. "Dammit, come here!" Saxen hissed at the grinning little dog, but the brindle-coated pokemon turned and dashed the other way, butting his head against the door to the kitchen and disappearing inside. In the silence that followed, every patron looked up in confusion at the boys, while the employees slowly turned red in fury. "On it," Saxen said pleasantly, before anyone else could speak, and gave an awkward little salute before ducking into the kitchen after the puppy. Edited by shadowcat, Jul 25 2012, 05:54 PM.
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Credits: 208 Matthew Kitty Scott Elliot and Saxen
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| shadowcat | Jul 23 2012, 10:42 AM Post #5 |
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The Almighty
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The little thing certainly had a knack for destruction. In the short time between the Poochyena entering the kitchen, and the two boys, a storm had apparently hit. The room was covered in tomato sauce that dripped from white walls onto tiled floor, a chef was staring incredulously at a scalding burn across his right arm, and the head chef was so boiling with rage that the puppy pokemon seemed to have finally got the message and was currently cowering in the corner of the room, muzzle coated in tomato purée. It took everything Saxen had not to laugh. Instead he stood, looking culpable and guilty, coughing to hide his giggles, beside Elliot who surveyed the destruction with calm acceptance. "Right," he finally said, and Saxen turned to his friend, eager to see how he would cover their behinds in this one. "Well, carry on everyone." That was it. The coughs no longer hid it. Saxen nearly choked on his own laughter. "Go on, Poochyena, we're nearly there," he said, raising his voice above the other boy's gasping laughs. The puppy was off again, running so fast that some of his legs seemed to forget how to move, and he had to steady himself by pushing off against the nearest surface to the right, which happened to be a mop bucket on wheels. The force caused the mop handle's weight to shift, pulling the entire bucket down onto the ground. Soapy water spread across the floors, and Saxen continued to wheeze with helpless laughter as Elliot dragged them after the dog. The Poochyena nosed its way through another door, leading out to a staff garden of sorts, where the waiters and chefs could take smoking breaks and eat their sandwiches. It was small, and so most of the space was taken up by a enormously fat man with a fraying blue velvet coat, his ridiculous tall black hat, and ruddy weatherbeaten face. On his arm was the Murkrow - or at least Saxen assumed it was the one; it had almost black feathers as Elliot had spotted, and was clicking its beak in a sort of arrogant curiosity at the two boys. Then, and only then, were they noticed by the giant of a man. He stared at them, and then at the dog who was yapping excitedly up at the bird, rear end wagging madly. "Ah," Saxen said. "He thought we were following the bird." He looked with helplessness over to his friend, and then to the man who had not yet said a word or altered his deadpan expression. "You wouldn't happen to know if there's a Raticate around here, would you?" The man's wispy moustache quivered at the request, and his eyes became dark. The Murkrow's feathers puffed out and it cawed. "What do you boys know about any Raticate being over here? Little bird tells me that the Elegent Lilligant down the road is infested with rats, but ain't no rats up in this cafe here, nope." His voice was rough and gravelly, but his turn of phrase childlike. "Is this your cafe?" Saxen pressed. He really just wanted his free food already. The man chortled slightly. "Oh, no, I'm a...freelance employee." Well, if that wasn't shady... "Look, we just want to find this Raticate that's bothering the people at that Lilligant cafe. Then we'll be on our way. It's not your problem," Saxen said, a little grumpy at this point. "I'm afraid that if your intention is to get rid of the rats, that's the definition of my problem. I intend to get paid a lot for this, you see." His whiskers twitched up into a smile that made both boys grimace. "But the problem is that I can't find the bleedin' thing. It's buggered off somewhere and it's ruining my plan." He seemed to think for a while, and then his mouth spread into an even wider smile. The Murkrow's feathers puffed out again as it stared down the unblinking Poochyena. "Here, I have a proposal. Find the Raticate. Then, whatever Lilligant are paying you, I'll double it if you return the rat to its nest by their kitchen." "Why?" Elliot had to ask, surprising Saxen. "Why? Because my employer here wants to shut the place down. Bad for business. Easiest way to do that is to call in a few health complaints about rats. Then when the inspector comes and sees the big, vicious Raticate has moved in with its family, it's bye bye cafe, hello money for me." He laughed, a nasty phlegmy sound. "I'm sorry, but we can't help you. We promised to help them first." "Ah, integrity? Interestin'." The man laughed again. "Nope, just choosing free food over more pointless money," Saxen mumbled, but the man didn't hear him. "Take my card." He shoved two grubby business cards into their hands before they knew what was happening. 'For all your odd job needs. Nothing too odd. Pan&Handler.' That was it. No contact number, nothing. Saxen raised an eyebrow and shoved it into his back pocket, then turned to follow Elliot through a winding narrow pathway that found them in an alleyway not unlike the other one. To his surprise, and pleasure, the Poochyena was close at his heels, looking expectantly up at them as if awaiting another order. Actually... Saxen looked warily left and right and ran to the chum bucket from earlier, scooped up some disgusting filth, and offered it to the puppy who gladly munched it out of his hand, and then darted away. That was it. No romantic reason, no affection, just hunger. It just wanted a reward. Saxen sighed, rubbing his now stinking hand hard against his jeans. A hand fell hard onto his shoulder. "Stealing from sailors is a pretty effective method of suicide, kid," a deep voice boomed from just behind him. Saxon swallowed hard, too nervous to turn around. He didn't steal anymore! He was better! This was all wrong. His legs seized up as the urgent need to run away got too much for him, but his struggling was in vain. Where was Elliot? Would the Poochyena come back? Before he could think of something to do, or a way to apologise or escape or something, the man behind him roared in pain, releasing his grip, and Saxen burst into a sprint, running far away. From the Raticate alleyway, he dared to peer out, and if he squinted against the sun he was sure he could see the burly sailor attempting to beat off a feathered black bird in the distance. Weird... "Elliot?" he called out. Instead he was greeted with a low, hissing growl. Very slowly, he craned his neck to see what he was up against. "Finally," he muttered as he saw it. "We've been looking for you." Edited by shadowcat, Jul 26 2012, 02:39 PM.
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Credits: 208 Matthew Kitty Scott Elliot and Saxen
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| shadowcat | Jul 30 2012, 06:37 PM Post #6 |
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The Almighty
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The first thought that ran through Saxen's mind on rounding the corner and finding the Raticate was that he would finally be able to get the glory for once; he would defeat it himself and he would claim the reward, and Elliot would be so impressed with him. Everyone would be so impressed with him, for once, instead of being exasperated or just plain tired. That was why it sucked when his second thought was that he had no pokemon with which to fight. He could fight it with his bare hands. The thing looked kind of gross, just staring up at him with brown, glassy eyes and slavering buck teeth. They were glistening, curved and yellow. It hadn't had enough to chew on, clearly, because they were getting too long. It just sat there on its haunches in that trash-filled alleyway and squinted up at him. "Hey, er, Raticate," he said, saluting at the pokemon for some reason. "If you could just wait here for a moment, my friend will catch up and he'll-" But before he could articulate all the things that Elliot could possibly do better than Saxen, the Raticate seemed to get bored of his face, and sprang off, darting behind him and out into the open, prompting some shouts from sailors and squeals from tourists. He frowned, looking around. There was a large hole chewed in the side of a nearby skip; was that where the thing had been hiding when they had come here last? Perhaps it took cover in there and then couldn't find a way out again. How frightening for it. Well, now he was alone in an alleyway that smelled rather worse than it had before, due to the trash spilling out of the new hole in the skip. There was no Elliot, no furry ball of destruction in the shape of that Poochyena. "Krow!" "What in the crapping hell?" Saxen blurted, jumping and turning on the spot (pretty impressive) to become almost face to face with the Murkrow from earlier, perching on a jutting brick on the wall and staring at him. He stared back, and they remained that way for a little while, before Saxen shrugged, confused by the bird's behaviour, and left the alleyway to try to find Elliot, the Raticate, and perhaps even the Poochyena he had grown relatively fond of. * Elliot had wandered off mid-plan - pretty typical of him; he would always find Saxen later - to find some scraps to treat the Poochyena with, unaware that this was exactly what his friend was doing, and being punished for, at that moment. He was halfway through the door to a little food shop when he remembered how they were in this whole predicament in the first place: they had no Aerei money to speak of. They would get food when they disposed of the Raticate, if they ever found it. It was at that exact moment, as he thoughtfully exited the shop again and looked around for Saxen or the Poochyena, that a Raticate sped past him, hairless tail dragging on the ground, and buck teeth gnashing furiously at the air as it ran. "Uh, hey," he called out to it, lifting a hand. It didn't listen. Dammit, Saxen was nowhere to be seen. He'd have to take care of this one on his own. Kicking off the gravel, he began to run after the huge rat pokemon. Running was one of his greatest and only pleasures in life, and there were rare moments in a pokemon trainer's life when running was incredibly useful. He felt the gentle sea breeze caress his dewing skin as his trainered feet pounded the ground. The Raticate rounded a corner, and, gaining on it, so did he. It was trapped between the small, panting boy and a short brick wall. An impressive leap would clear the wall and allow another break for freedom, but the rat hadn't the capabilities for any stunts of that magnitude, and instead bared its formidable set of teeth to the boy and whipped its tail left and right. It was ready to fight, and he had no pokemon to protect him. Why hadn't he at least brought Negi? He understood why Saxen hadn't wanted to bring his pokemon team, and had chosen not to bring his own out of support, but it was, he reasoned, probably downright stupidity not to have taken at least one. He missed his Farfetch'd more than he thought possible; more than he missed the rest of his friends. He frowned deeply and squared his stance, ready for anything the Raticate could throw at him. It tensed its muscles, and then launched itself at him, eyes glinting like mad, teeth gnashing, tail flicking; the ferocity of any cornered wild animal, and Elliot covered his face with the crook of his elbow and held his breath. The impact never came. Instead a loud whimper caused his eyes to snap open again. It was the Poochyena! It had intercepted the Tackle attack and had recoiled, tail between its legs, clearly not used to battling. It was just a pup, after all. "Uh, um," Elliot said, knowing that this was where he had to shine; he had to take control, be a trainer like all of his friends, and side by side with the Bite pokemon they would win this battle and be heroes. But, for Arceus' sake, he didn't know its attacks. Bird pokemon, he knew. He had an affinity with bird pokemon that his friends had envied, and yet he had never wanted to be a trainer. He swallowed, and tried to remember what it felt like to be one with a partner and to be strong together. "Well, you know Bite, right?" he ended up saying, rather weakly. As if a switch had been turned on in its head, the puppy scrambled forwards, scrabbling with such mad urgency that it seemed to forget how to actually use its legs, and tumbled forwards, slamming headlong into a trashcan and spilling the contents over the floor, confusing the Raticate with the noise momentarily, but not enough to stop its glowing fangs from clamping around the pooch's small frame, making the poor pokemon whine in pain and confusion. "Dammit," Elliot cursed, feeling his fists clench as adrenaline and pity surged through him. Where was Saxen? Saxen could control a Poochyena like he could control a bird. He squeezed his eyes shut in thought, and then opened them, having already condemned himself to a loss. "Faint Attack!" That voice? Elliot squinted at the hopeless battlefield as, out of nowhere, a strange-looking Murkrow materialised and smashed headlong into the Raticate, avoiding the Poochyena's quivering body entirely, and sending it reeling back, not without taking a chunk of fur in its teeth. "Now, uh," Saxen said, leaping down from the brick wall and staring quizzically at the Murkrow. Elliot stared quizzically at the Poochyena. Then their eyes met, and they grinned at each other, and shifted their focuses. "Murkrow, Tail Wind and Wing Attack." "Poochyena, Scary Face and Assurance!" An inexplicable wind blew strong from behind the Flying type, catapulting it forwards with wings outstretched. At the same time, the Raticate was distracted by the Poochyena's Scary Face, freezing it to the spot just long enough for the Wing Attack to connect with its head, sending it reeling. Almost immediately afterwards, the clumsy little puppy scampered forwards and walloped it with a super-powered Assurance, and the Raticate rolled onto its back, knocked entirely out. The boys wooped in unison, and turned to the two pokemon to celebrate with them. The Murkrow had already flown away, but Saxen had lifted up the Poochyena and was spinning it around. The little thing was trying madly to wag its tail, but it seemed too much of an effort. The Raticate's teeth had ripped out a chunk of its flesh from the hind leg just by the tail, and blood spattered the ground the longer Saxen held him up. The boys paled, and wordlessly made their decision with just a nod. Saxen was to take the Raticate to the café owner, while Elliot - the faster runner - would find and deliver the Poochyena to the pokemon centre before it lost too much blood. He pushed open the doors and a bell above tinkled to announce his arrival to the Elegant Lilligant, and what a sight he must have been. Patrons opened their mouths as they saw him, a piece of meat even falling back onto the plate of a young man. Saxen was dirty, stinking, slightly bloodied, and hauling a filthy dead-looking Raticate in a sweaty fireman's lift through the posh little café. He bundled the Raticate onto the counter before he could even think about what he was doing, and the waitress blinked at him before turning and scurrying away to bring the manager. He entered, took in the dirty panting boy and the Raticate slumped beside his muffins, flies buzzing around its unconscious mangy body, tongue lolling, and paled deeply. "I, er," he began, "I guess, well, thank you?" Saxen beamed, and turned to leave, but the bell tinkled and an official-looking man stepped in, blocking his path. He, too, took in the scene, and with a knowing grin tugged a clipboard out of a bag and hurriedly scrawled down some notes. "I don't even need to see the kitchen, not after this," he said with a sneering smile, and turned around to leave again, not without the parting shot of: "You'll be shut down within the week, mark my words." The door tinkled again and Saxen turned to face the manager. The red-faced, quaking manager. Absolute fury - that was something he was pretty accustomed to causing in other people, but he still hated it. "Well, you're welcome. Don't even worry about the free food," he said, and tipped an imaginary hat before sprinting out of the door and onto the street, almost stumbling but managing to find his footing and run as fast as he possibly could towards where he thought the pokemon centre might be. Edited by shadowcat, Aug 2 2012, 11:13 AM.
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Credits: 208 Matthew Kitty Scott Elliot and Saxen
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| shadowcat | Aug 2 2012, 11:44 AM Post #7 |
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The Almighty
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"I'm sorry, there's really nothing else I feel comfortable doing," the nurse was explaining, cheeks reddening at the unimpressed expression on Elliot's face, unaware that this was his ordinary look. "If we heal him in the machine with the other trainers' pokemon - which we don't usually do with strays as this is a free service; we can't afford to just heal up every beat up wild pokemon that strolls past - his wound will heal too quickly and he'll have a chunk missing for the rest of his life. Pokemon are adept at natural healing, you see, so it would actually be better for him to heal slowly in this circumstance. Just leave him where you found him, ok?" Elliot could feel anger building up inside him. It was true that this was a tourist city, and they couldn't waste the resources that they needed for foreign trainers who brought them all of their money, but that didn't mean that this Poochyena was any less important just because it didn't have a trainer. "I'll capture him, then," he said, fishing in his pockets, "and then you'll have to treat him because it's the law." "Yes, I suppose it is," the nurse said, but at that moment a group of giggling girls rolled up and littered the counter with minimised pokeballs, covered in heart and star seals and gossiping to each other, so the nurse had to excuse herself to deal with them instead. In the meantime, the Poochyena was losing consciousness, eyes falling shut and then snapping open. Whenever he saw Elliot he attempted to wag his tail, but the exertion caused him to twitch at the pain each time. He had finished looking for a pokeball, because he remembered that he had brought none. He had brought nothing. "Yeah, like, we're going to battle and stuff so could you give them a quick touch up?" one of the girls asked the nurse, and then loudly snapped her chewing gum. "Certainly." The perfectly healthy balls were handed to a Chansey and taken into the back room, where they would be strapped into a machine and healed to perfection. "Nurse?" Elliot called. She looked up from some paperwork at him and he cleared his throat. Now he would have to say what needed to be said in front of these girls. He would have far preferred for them to have been out of earshot. "I know you have to do it and all, but those pokemon were healthy, even though they were owned by trainers. This pokemon is really injured." He held the Poochyena aloft again and it whined in pain, faintly striped fur slick with brown blood. "Eww," one of the girls said. Elliot gritted his teeth. "It looks all stinky and covered in trash," another said. "That's because he is stinky, and covered in trash," Elliot retorted. He would have to work on his comebacks. The girls wrinkled their noses, and the nurse shrugged apologetically at him. "I'm sorry, but now the machines are all full up, even though it wouldn't work anyway with him outside of a pokeball." "I know you have resources for-" "Scuse me, how long will this take?" More gum-popping. "-this pokemon's health is on your-" "Could you take that stinky mutt outside, please? It's making my eyes water." Elliot was on the verge of tears himself. At that moment, Saxen burst in, panting and sweaty, dried Poochyena blood also streaking his skin and clothes. The girls muttered to each other about how many tramps were out today, and Elliot took a deep breath. "What's going on? Why isn't he-" "They'll only take him in if he's in a pokeball right now," Elliot explained. "Their resources are too tapped out, being a tourist city, to take in 'strays' or whatever." "Well that's inhumane," Saxen protested, loudly enough for the nurse to hear, but she just twitched an eyebrow while filling out forms, and otherwise continued to ignore them. "I don't have a pokeball," he added. "Me neither." They looked at each other, then back to the nurse. She silently shook her head, apparently tired of all of the confrontation. After a pause, they turned to leave, helpless. "Wait." They turned around again. The nurse rolled her eyes. "I'll bandage him up for you. You boys should really carry potions around with you, though, if you're trainers." "We're not trainers. He's not our pokemon," Saxen said angrily, but she wasn't listening. She pulled the semi-conscious pup from Elliot's tight grasp and took him into the back. After several minutes, during which Saxen found that he would willingly punch the next girl in that group who pointlessly screamed or snapped her chewing gum, she returned. The Poochyena was still semi-conscious, but now his wound had been disinfected and his hindquarters, tail and left hind leg were wrapped tightly in bandage. She handed Elliot a roll of bandages for when they needed to be changed, and then returned to her paperwork with a world-weary sigh that made Saxen want to direct his punch towards her instead. "Come on," Elliot said, clearly sensing his friend's frustration, and they both headed back out onto the streets. "You!" They were immediately greeted with a hostile roar from down the street. The manager of the Elegant Lilligant Café was standing, fists clenched and legs spread behind dirtied apron, staring them down. "Thanks to you two I'm out of business!" They exchanged a look, and then wordlessly, still clutching onto the bandaged Poochyena, turned and practically tore up the ground in their eagerness to run out of this goddamn city and into the wilderness of Aerei at last. * Hours of alternating between painful jogging and fast walking later, and they stopped by a stream and flopped onto the floor, panting. The little Poochyena limped eagerly to the water and took a long-deserved drink while the two boys lay in the grass and stared at the sun slowly disappearing behind Mt. Stella. "I can't believe we're finally here," Saxen commented. He knew Elliot was thinking it, but he had never been content, like his friend, with just mutual silent understanding. "It's just like home." He turned with a huge grin to his friend, who shook his head and laughed, remembering all the trouble they'd gotten into back in Hoenn. "Except it's likelier that the people here will actually murder us," he added, and though it was a light-hearted comment, they both knew in that moment that it was entirely true. There was one of those dragging mutual silences, and Saxen was about to open his mouth to break it, when a loud caw from overhead caused them to both look up as the sun was momentarily blotted out by a black feathered figure. A Murkrow flapped its wings hard and stared at them both, and then dropped a small piece of paper on the ground before fluttering away to get a drink from the stream beside the Poochyena. The boys looked at each other in confusion before reaching for the paper at the same time. They held a side each, and Saxen, disliking silence as ever, read it aloud to them both. You boys realy saved my nut! What the hell did that even mean? Was it some kind of Aerei expression? They assumed it had been from the strange man at the back of the Happy Hamburger Café. Pan here has been sent to repay my dept to you. When he's done that, he'll return to me. Until then, use him in any way you want. He's vursatile. Poor spelling aside, the meaning was clear. The strange man had sent them his Murkrow to help them in one way, and then he'd fly away again. In the setting Aerei sun, beside a trickling stream with two pokemon who did not belong to them, the two boys sat and thought about what they wanted that a Murkrow could provide them. And in a rare silence of mutual understanding that was actually mutual, Saxen could feel that he and his friend both had the same idea. Food. |
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Credits: 208 Matthew Kitty Scott Elliot and Saxen
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| Key2dawn | Aug 2 2012, 12:08 PM Post #8 |
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Cursed by Writer's Block | Former Admin
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Well, that's a major "whoops" on Saxen's part! Still, at least the Raticate has been taken care of. At least one guy is happy enough with the outcome. Approved befriending of Poochyena and borrowing of Murkrow. |
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Amethyst
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