OOC: For crying out loud, I had the whole second part of this IC written up when my browser spontaneously decided to backtrack a page, erasing everything that I had added. Stupid hotkeys...<.<
IC:
"Hmm?" Rai looked up from his thoughts at Jena's unusually loud comment about the plant, turning to watch the ornament as well. He couldn't really say that he saw anything peculiar about it, but then again, Jena had already proven herself to be the more perceptive one in these matters, and he assumed that she wouldn't have spoken up without a reason.
"Might as well take it on the safe side." he said, instinctively reaching for a pokéball on his belt, "Ashu, could you-"
He cut himself off as he recalled that the Scyther was still being treated, lowering his hand to his side with a slightly sheepish expression on his face.
No matter... he told himself, trying to shrugg of this temporary lapse in his usual well-controled and graceful manner as he proceeded to investigate the plant on his own, reaching out a hand to check amidst the leaves. It's probably just another Oddish playing hide-and-seek again. he added to reassure himself as he began his search, recalling the young trainer from yesterday and his unruly team Nothing to worry about...I don't need Ashu for this. Especially since I'm already dirty anyway.
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Meanwhile, the streets of Koverike City were as lively and active as ever, despite the increasingly late hour, colorful crowds of "skydancers" dressed in all manner of peculiar, feathered outfits mingling with larger crowds of locals and tourists, both seeming equally excited about the prospect of the upcoming festival and all of them too preoccupied with their own mingling to pay any heed to a certain crowd member who was quite far from a party mood.
"Come on, Ruru, he's getting away!"
A still fairly young boy, perhaps sixteen or so, came darting through the crowds, dodging or, usually, just shoving aside the various bystanders who stood in his way, all the while trying not to let the running one in front of him out of his sight. It was obvious that he had been at this for quite a while now, his face bearing a light shade of red in its colour and his dark green hair, usually so carefully ordered, now rebelling against the usual bowl haircut, stray strands sticking out here and there. And if his behaviour hadn't been enough to distinguish him from the crowd, his attire certainly was, being most closely resemblant to the kind of gi that practicers of martial arts wore, although the jacket was a slightly darker shade than the usual white and the trouser-portion of was dark blue, much like his belt, and the lower ends had been secured firmly a bit above his ankles to keep him from tripping, his bare feet rapidly proceeding across the ground while the wooden slippers that usually adorned them were firmly clenched in his right hand.
{Sorry!} a rather young-looking Azumarill called out as she trotted after best she could, looking awfully guilty about the way her trainer was behaving and making a point of apologizing as often as she could while at the same time clinging to the sizeable dark blue satchel in her front paws, {Sorry! Excuse us! Coming through! Oh, terribly sorry! He didn't mean it like that! Please...sorry!}
'If only I could get a clear shot...' the boy thought for himself, sweat running down his brow as he watched the small, dark spot that constituted his target darting back and forth between the crowd members, I could drop him down easily, but with all these stupid people in the way...hah! Got you!
A triumphant expression spread across the boy's face as the man in front of him suddenly turned around a corner by the Koverike City pokémon center, a place where no crowd in its right mind would possibly go. The boy immediately quickened his pace, reaching down to his belt with his free hand and pulling out one of the three pokéballs held there, turning around the corner only to find his target...gone?
He came to a halt, unable to believe his eyes as he beheld the completely deserted street in front of him which then proceeded to branch out into another one of the large open spaces which the people of Koverike seemed to adore so much, another enormous crowd busily wandering back and forth across it.
"No..." he said for himself, replacing the pokéball and leaning against the wall beside him with his now free hand, air entering his body in deep breaths as he attempted to steady himself while he slowly returned to donning the slippers on his protesting feet, "Lifegiver's bane, no!" the youth clenched one of his hands into a fist, delivering a well-honed punch into the wall out of pure anger, a small hole appearing on the spot he had struck while he proceeded to massage his now aching hand, great...with his luck he would probably have broken someting too.
{A-Aniki?}
The boy looked up as the unsure voice of his Azumarill caught his ears, watching as the water type slowly trotted over, her ears drooping and the satchel stretched out in front of her, like the poor victim-to-be holding out her crucifix in a vain attempt to scare away count Dracula. It was obvious that the rabbit pokémon was feeling guilty about what had happened, hardly surprising considering that she took it upon her to take the blame for more or less everything.
"He got away..." the boy replied in a bitter tone, glaring towards the crowd again, as he accepted the satchel and slung it back across his shoulder, "That lousy outsider got away with the emblem. It's over, Ruru...I failed...we failed..."
{No you didn't.} the Azumarill replied in a surprisingly firm manner, placing her stubby front paws at the places where her hips would probably have been had her anatomy been more human, {That thief didn't play fair, you would have beat him in a fair fight. You would have-}
"But it wasn't a fair fight and I didn't win." the one called Aniki interrupted, "And whether I would have won or not doesn't matter to the elder when he hears that the symbol of our house is still at large, will it? We were meant to retrieve it, remember? And now it's gone!" he slashed through the air dramatically with the less sore one of his hands, causing the water type to jump back a bit as a precautionary measure, "Months of careful tracking and planning...all spoiled..."
{Then we'll just track and plan again.} Ruru replied stubbornly, looking up at her trainer, {Because until you succeed you'll never give up no matter what, right? That's what you're always saying.}
The boy looked up, "You're...right. I used to but-"
{So let's go!} the Azumarill cut in, immediately beginning to march off towards the pokémon center entrance while dragging his trainer by the hand, {Maybe someone in here saw something...} for anyone except Aniki, this sudden change of behaviour in the aqua rabbit would have seemed strange to say the least, but to he was completely used to it. Most of the time Ruru was a hopeless pushover who was always trying to be nice to everyon and immediately took the blame for everything, but when it really became necessary, she was the bravest and most determined pokémon he knew. 'Probably why we work so well together...' the boy mused as he dislodged his hand, stepping in through the glass doors of the pokémon center.
The crowd inside wasn't much nicer to be in than the one inside, and most seemed far too concerned with their own peculiar bussiness to pay him any heed, but then he spotted a lone girl and her Zubat sitting in the corner, not seeming to have anything in particular to do.
{Aniki..?} Ruru asked, having safely reverted back to her usual insecure self now that the boy had regained his trademark confidence, {She looks scary...are you sure we should..?}
"Weren't you the one who's always saying that it doesn't hurt to ask?" the boy retorted in a quiet tone, givng his pokémon a playful poke, "Don't worry, I can handle myself."
""Excuse me?" he asked, trying to recall all the things that the village elder had said about proper adressing of people from the outside, it would undoubtedly have gone better if he had actually been paying attention, "You wouldn't happen to have seen a man in black run by here, would you?"
