"Congratulations on your first catch!" Nurse Joy smiled beatifically as she held out the tray over the counter. The young man on the other side took the pair of pokéballs from it and reattached them to his belt with a big sigh.
"Right, thanks. Keep up the good work." His voice was so utterly devoid of enthusiasm that she tilted her head in mild curiosity, but didn't lose any of the warmth in her expression as he wheeled around on his heels and made for the door.
Once the doors closed behind him, Jasper hustled off to the side, getting just far enough around the corner that he wouldn't be making a scene. He pulled a pokéball off his belt, one that had no sticker yet and squinted at it. After a few seconds of gawking, he let out another big breath and gave the ball a lazy underhand toss. A beam of white and blue blazed out of the ball as it flew back into his hand and coalesced into a Munchlax, letting out a big yawn. Only after finishing its second favorite ritual did the Munchlax actually notice Jasper, whereupon it simply raised an arm by way of greeting and let out a happy "Laaax!"
"Alright, this is your one chance to go back to your life." The trainer said bluntly to the pokémon with a deep scowl. "I hope you learned not to fuck with people's lives and pay a bit more attention to your surroundings, if you don't you're, just gonna keep getting your ass kicked. Bottom line, you've already proven to be trouble. I don't need trouble, or for anyone on my team to be anything less than a hundred percent committed, so if that ain't for you, get a move on." The Munchlax looked at the now-empty pokéball it had come from, then the trainer's face, then watched his hand as he pulled out his pokédex, processing what he'd said. It continued to look between the three points of interest for an entire minute before it turned around and began to lumber off back towards the wilderness.
Jasper's face twinged at the time the little blue bear had wasted making him wonder and he let out a final sigh, holding the pokéball up to the pokédex's scanner.
Alright. Second attempt to set her foot outside this town is a-go. She'll cut across this alley and take a short cut. Melody had successfully transferred the angry mob's reign of terror from the innocent train-station employees to the shady guy trapped in the warehouse… with no free train tickets to show for it. Oh, well. Easy come, easy go. At least they got a ™ and a berry out of it. Now they're back on the right track, a track… blocked by an all too familiar face.
Melody's shoulders slump at the sight of Jasper; a classmate that she had spent considerable time at the academy sneering and snarling at. Sonia quickly learned that pairing them together was like tossing a lit match into a puddle of gasoline. She figured he would be one of the first students out of the little town, but no, he's still here. Giving a poor Munchlax grief, from the looks of it.
She leans against the nearest wall and watches the two interact. Huh. He caught that Munchlax-- and now he's letting it go? Well, more like he's telling it that its life is going to be miserable if it doesn't leave. That's… the nicest thing she's ever seen him do. That's right, roll on, little Munchlax. Go live your life.
She waits for the Munchlax to get a decent distance away before she lets her presence be known. "Munchlax is pretty rare around here. Why'd you let it go?" What? He doesn't know she's been here the entire time. He doesn't know she heard the whole spiel. She's also… not sure she believes him completely.
That was not the voice Jasper wanted to hear - not that he wanted to hear any at all - behind him.
Ah, shit. He stopped watching the Munchlax waddle away to turn his attention to Melody, probably the classmate he'd clashed with the most. Probably quite literally if Sonia hadn't paid enough attention to them. "What's it to you? I don't need something around that just wants to sleep and eat all my food. I caught it for the challenge."
That answers her question about Sonia giving her rod back. Their Professor's probably not going to be arming Melody as long as there's a chance she might cross paths with Jasper again. They nearly came to blows far too many times even after the confiscation. At his response, Melody rolls her eyes so drastically it could probably be seen from space. "If all it does is eat and sleep, what's the challenge?"
"There was a whole stampede of'em angry about being woken up coming at me, and I was between them and food." Jasper grunted. "And it updates my pokédex." Jasper allowed his annoyance to take background duty for a moment so his pale blue eyes could bore into her bold red ones. "And to what do I owe the 'pleasure'? There some reason you're interrogating me?" It just had to be her he ran into. Anybody else was easy enough to just curse at dismissively and walk away, but Melody always found a way to draw him in.
Oh, she would have paid good money to see an army of Munchlax charge at Jasper. That brings a little smirk to her face. She folds her arms over her chest as he goes about his sneering. "I thought I was taking a shortcut out of town. I didn't think I'd see anyone lurking around." And she has a feeling he'll hang around and block her path just to spite her. Fine. She'll go the long way. She turns on her heels. "You know, you already went through the trouble to catch it. You could have at least kept it around to trade for something."
There it is. She just wouldn't let it go until she got an answer she liked, would she? "I don't wanna trade anything with anybody. I'm gonna get strong by getting strong. Nothin' wrong with a little help now and then but I still need my strength to be
mine. That enough for you? What do you want?" He growled the last part. "I don't have anything to justify to you. You want the Munchlax? Take it, maybe then you can stop hiding your little Doom Noodle from everything all the time."
It's very likely that Jasper can see her entire body bristle. Here she was about to leave him be and he had to start. She quickly surveys the ground around her for something to throw; a stone or an old can or something. Nothing. Damn streets being kept so clean. She whirls around to face him again, too focused to notice the gentle
clink of a small, silver skull hitting the ground below. "Like hell I'm taking one of your handouts." She waves her hand dismissively, her middle finger raised
slightly above the others before turning around and making her way back to the street.
He snorted as he watched her walk away. "Heh, suit yourself." He began to turn the other way - despite Melody going in the direction he'd planned to go - when he caught himself looking off in the direction the Munchlax had gone. He snorted again and prepared to leave when the swivel of his head caught a glint of light on the ground. Jasper knelt down and grabbed it, eyes widening when he pinched it between two fingers and looked closer.
The little skull from that necklace? Mother of f- "Hey! You dropped something!" He shouted after the girl, holding the skull up enough to catch the light so she could see it clearly. "Keep better track of your shi - "
Swoosh A black blur shot past and just like that the skull was gone, tearing Jasper's gaze to a retreating Rookidee, flying off with the skull clenched in its toes. "Motherfucker! Get back here you jackdaw-jackass!" He blurted out, chasing after the little bird without a second thought.
Melody looks over her shoulder to see the little glittering object. Instantly her hand flies to her neck and feels the distinct lack of a chain. Damn it, should have put that thing on a thicker chain. Before she can turn around to jog back for it--
swoosh.
Did… did a freaking bird just jack her necklace? "You son of a bitch!" She shouts. "Get back here!" She darts after the fleeing bird as Nightshot phases out of her bag and attempts to float up enough to snatch the necklace from the Rookidee. Unfortunately, he's not nearly fast enough.
They were lucky none of the woodland in the area was too close to Wedgehurst proper. If that Rookidee made it to the woods it would be nearly impossible to catch. Less luckily...the woods were exactly where it was heading. There was no way a pair of teenagers could catch up to it before it found safe haven, and neit
her Larvitar or Dreepy are especially fast pokémon.
I could try to catch it, but what about the necklace? What does a pokéball do to something like that? Hold on! Faust can still help! Trying very hard not to lose his balance and eat dirt, Jasper slid to a stop in his pitching position, Faust's ball in hand.
"Bean that bird!" As the words left his mouth, the trainer rocketed the stickered pokéball up into the air and right into the Rookidee's back. The troublesome bird in question let out a pained shriek and dropped Melody's necklace to the ground, but quickly wheeled about to make a dive for it. Unfortunately for Rookidee, the pokéball had hit it directly on the button, and before it could reacquire its prize, Faust landed right next to the necklace, stepping over it and crossing his arms.
As the necklace falls, Nightshot makes a dash for it; however, due to how much heavier Larvitar is, he hit the ground beside the necklace far before Nightshot could get close to it. The little ghost-jet alters his trajectory so that he phases into the ground a good five feet away from Larvitar and the charging Rookidee. He then rises from the ground and floats back to Melody with an apologetic look.
"Don't-- worry. They don't want the necklace, just the bird." Melody says, pausing mid-sentence when she takes note of the bloodthirsty look in her fellow trainer's eyes. Well now… this might be interesting to watch.
When the Rookidee let out a cry of challenge and began to circle above Faust, Jasper got an almost bloodthirsty looking smirk on his face at the sight and stepped forward eagerly."Think you can just snag anything you want, huh? Think you're fast enough to snatch something out of
my hands? No sale, You little shitthief!"
Jasper stepped forward and picked up the necklace, clenching it tightly in a fist so it couldn't be a target during the battle. "Rock Throw!" He wasted no time ordering Faust, who began to fling stones of increasing size at the Rookidee. The bird pokémon nimble dodged each rock before flying in to Peck at the Larvitar who'd gotten in the way of its treasure. Even as Faust was pushed back, Jasper didn't seem concerned. "Oh I've been waiting for a good one-on-one. It's unfortunate for you that I don't have to worry about friendly fire." All at once the wind took on a harsh tone, bits of sediment began rapidly flaking off of Faust and being pulled from every bit of loose dirt, gravel and sediment to start a Sandstorm. "Faust's no ordinary Larvitar!"
The Rookidee didn't care for or about any of the guy's bragging about his pokémon, but it sure cared about being buffeted by merciless streams of sand and grit. It became harder and harder to avoid the rocks Faust was throwing and even when it did avoid getting hit the sand alone was hurting it bit by bit. Faust himself didn't even seem fazed from the earlier Pecks thanks to his extreme durability. That was when a series of squawks, chirps, and calls came from the woodland a short distance away. "Ah, shit, you've gotta be kidding me!"
"I think it's got friends!" Melody calls as she ushers Nightshot into her bag. There's no reason for him to get buffed by the sandstorm. She turns to the direction of the angry caws and squawks and charges for the woods. What's she going to do? She hasn't gotten that far yet. Bat them away with a stick, maybe? "Finish it! I'll keep them away!"
"Wait wait wait!" Jasper shouted after her, totally flabbergasted. "Why should the person without the type advantage pokémon run at the birds? I've got this!" His words mattered little though, an entire flock of other Rookidee had already arrived, and were beginning to circle the trainers, threatening to dive bomb them like a squadron of attack planes. The birds were hard-pressed to attack efficiently through the sandstorm, but the first Rookidee was undaunted. It had been Honing its claws ever since it heard its friends approaching and now it slammed a Power Trip into Faust that scored gouges out of his stony hide. "Faust?! No no…Alright, shitbirds… Faust, use Ancient Power! Just like we practiced!"
To answer his question: It's because it's only right to let him finish his fight without interference. Unfortunately, she didn't have as much time as she thought, and the flock descended upon them before she could meet them in the wooded area. "Hey!" She shouts. "Back off, you little shits! Let them have a fair fight!" Is she really trying to reason with angry Pokemon? No, she just wants their attention… and it works. Several of the birds break off and begin to dive bomb the punk teen, sharp beaks pecking into her fist as she raises her arm to protect her face-- and eyes. She's seen that movie.
Faust nodded at his trainer's words, and all of the loose rocks it had been throwing earlier began to move as if under psychic control, they rose up into the air and began to swirl around in the sandstorm. Several of the rocks moved all at once, knocking several smaller Rookidee out of the air. Each time one got struck, an aura of shifting colors grew thicker and thicker around the Larvitar's body. Most of the Rookidee began to back off, and the next time their leader attacked, even with Power Trip, Faust didn't move. Both trainer and pokémon smirked in sync as the sandstorm fell away to reveal a field of floating stones surrounding the Rookidee. "Queen to B4." Jasper snapped his fingers and the rocks converged. Rookidee tried its best to avoid them, but several of them scraped against it until it was off balance and one finally knocked it out of the air, pinning it to the earth. "Down goes the Rook."
Jasper approached the fallen pokémon. " Checkmate. Not really a fair fight, I know. But it's a fight you chose, so take your lumps." Nearly all trace of hostility was gone as he tapped a pokéball to the Rookidee's head. Saving it from its painful position to go into the ball instead.
A determined, angry Nightshot quickly flies out of Melody's satchel, his ghostly tail glowing as he does a spin in the air, slamming it into one of the Rookidee's and sending it flying back.
The birds are about to turn their assault onto the little dragon when they see their allies hitting the ground. With a sharp caw from one of the birds, they join the charge on the Larvitar and its trainer. Melody freezes, mid step, when she hears Jasper speak.
"... Really? A chess joke? Right now?" She's not sure if she's impressed by his enthusiasm or embarrassed for him. Horrible pun aside, he did it, and he's got a pretty determined new ally to show for it. She folds her arms over her chest and flashes him a very discrete smirk. "But… that was a pretty impressive show."
Jasper knelt down to give a Faust a rather vicious looking noogie, he had to rub as hard as possible for the Larvitar to really feel it on his rock of a head. "Good job, all that practice paid off again, Sonia was right… as usual." He grumbled the last part with obvious annoyance before standing straight again and strolling towards Melody. "I just got lucky, Sonia said Larvitar was the perfect partner for me, and here Faust is. That and Ancient Power made him way stronger with use so he could put on a good show. I don't think he could have used it any more than he did though, it's really tiring." It occurred to him that he should deal with matters at hand before singing his pokémon's praises, so he held out his arm and unclasped his right hand, dangling the necklace in front of the girl by its broken chain.
"This is yours, right?" He asked just before a loud Click! Sounded behind him.
"Yeah, it's mine." Melody nods. She decides to give him the chance to hand it over before she snatches it from him. It's okay to have a couple minutes of truce since they faced off an avian army together, right? Not that she believes for a second that he chased that bird down for her, but he did take the time to make sure the Rookidee dropped it before catching it. So… he's not the most selfish person in the world. She holds her hand out as the soft
click! chimes behind them, causing her to peer around him. "Looks like you've got another hard hitter there."
Jasper lowered the skull into the palm of her hand and let go of the chain before something tapped his leg and he looked down to see Faust holding the now full pokéball. He took it, squinted at it, then looked back at Melody. "You good?"
"Yeah, I'm good." She clasps her fingers around the charm. She just has to find a new chain for the skull. For now, she slips the necklace into her back pocket. "Don't hang around here too long, or you'll miss the train." Which she's starting to think is cursed. She headed to it once, it was delayed because of a thief (and some Munchlax apparently,) she took a walk to kill time before heading back and got her necklace jacked by a very bitchy-bird. Maybe the
third time she heads for the station, she can actually get to it. "And…" She pauses, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets. "Thanks. For getting that back. I owe you one."
"You don't owe me jack or shit." Jasper responded dismissively. "I don't care if it's mine or not, no damn bird is gonna take something out of my hand and just get away with it." He stared at the pokéball a moment longer, then scanned it with his pokédex and tossed it. The flash of light revealed a tired and bruised, but mostly okay Rookidee. His hand found the Medicine pocket of his backpack and quickly fished out a bottle of Potion. The Rookidee tried to hop back when Jasper approached it, but he firmly grabbed its head and held it in place while he sprayed both of its wings, then its chest, then anywhere else he saw cuts or bruises. "That's that, now that you've learned a thing or two about stealing and ass-kickings, get a move on."
With a last double check that Rookidee's data was updated in the pokédex, he scanned the pokéball that caught the bird and untagged it, releasing it. "Please let the train not be too crowded." Was the last thing he said to the air before walking off towards Wedgehurst station, more than ready for the day to be over.
He can say that all he wants, and he can say it in the least appealing way possible, it doesn't matter. Him doing her a favor is going to hang over her head until she finds a way to repay him. Which… looks like it's going to be awhile. She'll have to catch him off guard since it's clear he's not going to take anything from her willingly. They're headed for a long train ride, she'll have plenty of time to begrudgingly think about what she can do.
Do they serve lunch/dinner on the trains? She could pay for his. That would be quick and easy enough. "Ri--" She begins only to stop talking when he tells his new catch to leave. Again?! Is this his thing? Is he trying to have a gimmick? You know what? She's not going down that road by asking again…
"This has been a weird day." She says with an exasperated sigh. As she takes a step to make the trek back to the station, a flutter of wings can be heard. She whirls around to see the newly released Rookidee flying towards her-- and lands on her shoulder.
"...Can I help you?" She asks, not hiding her degree of annoyance.
"Dee~" The Rookidee holds its wing in front of its head like a shield while flapping the other aggressively. After a few seconds of… that, it resumes its normal stance and looks at her expectantly, giving a small hop.
"Uh." What?
Her confusion earns her a small peck to the forehead, though it's not painful… it's not aggressive at all. It's more like he's trying to point, maybe? "Me?" She asks. "You wanna come with me?"
"Rook!" Another bounce.
"Well… you are pretty tough. The way you held your own against a rock type was pretty cool." Melody glances to the floating Nightshot. "What do you think?"
"Pypy!" The Dreepy agrees with an excited clap and a small circle in the air.
"Guess you're in," Melody smiles just slightly as she reaches for an empty Pokeball, "-- but if you steal from me again, you're dinner." With that, she holds the Pokeball out to Rookidee, who happily taps it with his beak.
Shake. Shake. Shake. Ding.
The teen's smile grows as she tosses the ball slightly into the air, calling their new friend back out. The vibrant light lands directly on her shoulder before taking shape again.
"Looks like we're a trio now."
Jasper, who'd been watching the exchange once he heard the bird's words, shrugged. "It must have been impressed by your guts facing down its friends. Don't disappoint it."
Oh, is that what it was trying to do by holding its wing over its face? Imitate her? "That right?" She asks the Rookidee.
"Rook." He nods-- which is more of a bob with its whole body since it doesn't really have a neck.
"I can dig it. You're pretty tough yourself." Melody says as she walks by Jasper. "-- Hey." She says, stopping to wait for the other trainer. "Once I train this guy up some more, want a rematch?" They both know this little bird won't be weak to rocks forever.
"Sure, why not?" Jasper agreed, knowing they'd run into each other again on the journey anyways. "If it's a pokémon battle, even Sonia wouldn't get in our way."
"... Does that make us rivals?" Melody asks after a several second pause.
"I guess?" He shrugged. "Why do we need to label ourselves?" Jasper began to make his way back towards town proper again only for something to fling itself onto his back, causing him to stumble and barely avoid a makeout session with the dirt. "What the fuck!? I'm being ambushed, I thought we scared all those birds off! And why is it so heavy!"
Melody could tell what was on him right away, and after another moment of struggling they both heard a loud, happy "Lax!" At that Jasper stopped moving so suddenly that the Munchlax fell to the ground and had to regain its balance as the trainer turned on it. "It's you? The'hell d'you want?" The Munchlax smiled, reached a hand into its fur and pulled out what looked like an apple? Before the trainer could question it further, the blue bear took a huge bite out of the apple, then held it up so both trainers could see as… the bite grew back and left a full apple again?! "What?!" Jasper exclaimed, genuinely shocked. "Is that apple magic?!"
Jasper's big thigh pocket beeped and he pulled out his green pokédex. When he held it up to the apple, it scanned it the same way it did pokémon and pokéballs. "Leftovers: A mysterious food item found only in the possession of Munchlax and Snorlax. This apple-like article seems to infinitely regenerate any damage done to its body and continue to be edible. It provides no nutrition and cannot supplant real food, nor can it be eaten by anything other than a pokémon. However, pokémon who ingest bites of Leftovers do recover from their wounds over time. To this day scientists and pokémon professors wrack their brains over the origins and potential uses of Leftovers, but as of yet no further information or practical applications have been proven."
He took the Leftovers from the Munchlax and stared at it in unabashed awe. "Holy crap...and I can have this?" The pokémon nodded vigorously as Faust joined them to stare at the enigmatic apparently-not-an-apple. Jasper rubbed the back of his head and closed his eyes for a few seconds before bending down to eye level with the Munchlax. "I don't know where you got this thing or how it even exists, but sure, thanks. Looks like you really did learn a thing or two about not being selfish from that ass-kicking, eh? Alright, fine." He took the same pokéball that had contained Melody's new Rookidee only a little over a minute ago and held it out. "This is a good enough reward already, but why don't you come with me? I think you've proven yourself well enough." It didn't even hesitate to to slap the button offered to it, disappearing into the pokéball with an elated "Lax!" And an undeniable Click!
"That's that, is it?" Jasper questioned nobody in particular, looking at the pokéball for a few seconds before setting it on his belt.
This day is just one twist after another, huh? Melody shoves her hands into her jacket pockets and walks past Jasper. "Now I get it." She says in a teasing tone. "They have to give you something to earn a spot on your team." No, that's not it and she knows it. The Pokemon get to choose whether they come along with Jasper or not. That's… actually nice. Jasper's got a nice side, eh? That might just be the biggest twist of them all.
"Nah, I just don't want anyone with me that's too soft or gonna run away after a harsh word or two." He deflected the statement. "It's not like I need payment...just...proof." That, at least, felt right to say. "Long as I know I ain't wastin' my time." Still poking at him as ever, but he had some ammo of his own, so he matched her tone and fired back. "What happened to not takin' my scraps?"
"Are you calling my Pokemon a scrap? I should kick your ass for that." She says, her tone still very much teasing. The Rookidee puffs out his chest in defiance. He's got her and she knows it, but she's not bad at deflecting either. Truthfully she was not going to pass up on a very strong, very determined Pokemon just because it belonged to this jerk-sneasel for about seventeen seconds. It also seemed pretty douchey to tell Rookidee that, no, he couldn't come along with her, because of forces beyond his control.
Jasper smirked and looked right into the Rookidee's eyes. "It's definitely scrappy, and there's nothing wrong with that." He allowed the pokémon one honest compliment and went back to moseying on his way. "Keep it up, little bird. That lady's gonna get you in plenty of trouble."
"Oh, yeah, and your new Munchlax is
so much better off." She says, stretching her arms out before resting them behind her head. She can see the outline of the station coming into view now. Looks like they might just make it to the train after all. "Walk fast. If we hang around, we might get roped into doing more good samaritan work." She glances over to her fellow punk one final time. "And we've way overdone it on the good deeds already."
Holocaster Brand Smartphone x 1
