-----"When you find him -- calm down,
Maleko, goddammit! When you find him--
stay. Stop flapping--!
Sit still!"
The Mantyke got like this sometimes, all anxious and exuding a puddle of mess -- he knew better than to "slip" after about a year; his pores were overreacting like he was, spreading saponaceous fluid into the pavement.
----------Maleko frolicked in his little island of wet, vying to wear his Trainer's jacket like a giant veil as he bumped up against her outstreched hand.
Kylie Kahale made a snort of disgust.
----------"I've taught you better," she scolded, and in a beat, raised her arm pinching the collar even higher.
Just missing it, Maleko gave a twirp both bitter and capitulating, and floated to the ground again.
"When you're ready to start acting like a
Kaiō, I'll give it to you. But you have to listen first."
----------She was running out of dry terrain, so Kylie readjusted onto the tips of her sneakers.
The spurt in height meant Maleko went drifting down again without his letterman prize.
"Okay,
who's King of the Sea?"
He rocked listlessly on his back, murmuring.
"Yeahh, that's right, Maleko. Now, let's review!
You're gonna find Rosa Summers while
Junn and
I check the dorms. And you'll know when you find Rosa based on
this."
Mantyke had found fascinating form, far above them, in the clouds as they lingered over a stretch of mid-afternoon blue. Their deliberation was contagious. He, in fact, found activity harder to force. As if he was gliding, and his eyes were even glazing over--
The signature red, white, and gold sliced through the picturesque scene, and he freaked.
"Alright, alright, quit squeakin' like that! Behave, we're pretty much-- Look, do you know what I want you to do, Maleko? Show that you get me."
Maleko instead took advantage of Kylie's slacking grip and snatched the jacket right from her.
----------He launched off into the courtyard with a sweet, victorious cry of hallelujah. The verdant expanse about him was dew-sprinkled in his leaps and bounds, his haul draped over tiny, fluttering wings as he lifted as high as the bulk would let him in O holy rejoice.
"Fine," Kylie sighed, rising to her feet.
Her gaze followed Maleko's happy dance across the lawn, out past the tended flowerbeds and brick path leading to the august entrance of
'Lair de Entei.'
----------To the far right hailed a statue of polished brass, surrounded by flat, oriental-style torches which danced fearlessly about the beast -- its right paw rested on recreated ruin, its maw wide like that of a noble dragon's, its mane falling long over its face. She called it the Beast with the Headdress -- she was memorized by that natural crest and slope of fur that made it look eternally, inherently ready for war -- but she knew this was Entei, emblematic to Kylie in her Hoennese upbringing only of her placement here. Passing Him today, and now returning to Him, had her suspect a connection nonetheless; she knew not His story, but there was an ardent passion portrayed in those ruby gem pupils, even in this embellished simulacrum, that she wanted to mirror.
----------It was atop Entei, too, that Kylie found especial interest in a little, onion-headed creature, feet together, palms up, balanced on the head of the great warlord of Pokémon Trainer Academy.
To Junn, there was never too much lotus one could indulge in, but her focus was far less intense then that morning. She met Kylie's eyes as her Trainer approached, motionless though curious.
"We should start looking soon. Can you believe where the day goes? We haven't even gotten any Training in!"
The Meditite's look hardened with concern.
The inanity of what Kylie was blathering struck her when Junn made that face, that "stay-mindful" face when she let the impermanence of time actually get to her.
----------She changed the subject. "Hey, have you
seen how many people go to this school? They're from all over the world, and I've only met one from Hoenn. Kinda makes you homesick, doesn't it?"
Her partner wasn't ready to grant her credit just yet. She only gave an empty shrug in response.
----------With a grunt, Junn slid down the face of the Entei statue -- caught momentarily on His paw, eyes going wide, before letting go altogether and floating with some hesitance down onto proper footing.
Kylie, laughing from her perch on the statue base: "Heh, you never do any floating when you're fighting. Why's it a safety net?"
Junn didn't follow; she didn't see any meshwork or fishing supplies.
"Er-- why not float during a battle, Junn?"
The Meditite considered, ultimately signalling her preference as she came down lightly on Kylie's knee in a chopping motion.
"Pff, you can't always fight like I do. Maleko doesn't cop my style all the time.
----------"Ain't that right, Sea King?"
The Mantine was busy rolling, rolling, rolling about in the grass.
----------On cue, a blocky object slipped out of one of the varsity jacket's gaping pockets -- it bashed roughly into the ground.
Kylie shot up. "Eeeyah!
Maleko Kahale!"
(On that note, he let the jacket onto the ground before finding great interest someplace beyond his Trainer.)
"That thing's already older than Grammy and her Drampa combined! Jeez, get yourself in check! That's our
map!"
Sighing, Junn crossed the yard to the Mantine and his turmoil. Maleko decided to sneak a melodramatic, faux-crying face in their mutual Trainer's direction.
----------With the 'Nav recovered in her hand, Junn felt urged to clock the Mantyke between his bobbing antennae, before he could realize.
"Oh Spoink balls, don't you bang that against
anything--"
----------Kylie closed in on the duo, dropping to her knees again as she took her Pokenav from Junn's mitts, it buzzing grotesquely all the while. Something like the fractured face of a newscaster flashed onscreen before --
zzrt; a sound of fraying wire, and the whole thing froze.
----------"C'mon!" Kylie shook the device, and as the keyboard flopped uselessly by its hinges, there was some sensation of movement. Ultimately, she may as well have imagined it. The screen fizzed and flickered like a tellie without a signal; at that point, she hadn't the strength to do anything but concede.
We've encountered technical difficulties!
"Screw it. I can't fix this." She turned to Maleko. "If this broke for good, you're paying for it."
Maleko wondered how many pockets he'd have to rifle through unnoticed to meet that expectation.
"With your life. I'm gonna deep-fry you like a halibut meal."
Kylie aimed a jab that soared over Mantyke's head. He was quick in avoiding any others.
----------With resolve contradicting his behavior so far that day, he took to the skies with a sheepish grin, wheeling around his Trainer as she jovially punched the air where he'd been.
----------With a chirp, he sailed off, disappearing above the dormitory roof.
"Jeez." Kylie stood, wiping moisture off her legs.
----------A draft went with Maleko, ridden by a hint of smoke, raising skin exposed in summer clothes. The girl looked for the article her mate had left behind.
After a brief, wandering disinterest, Junn had found it first -- the prized, the coveted, the distinguished Entei jacket, which sent a shiver of glee through her so instantaneous she failed to snuff it from her Trainer's attuned sense. Junn never acted on impulse; this, instead, was destiny. And just as Kylie recognized that twinge of excitement, the duo psy-fighter stood giddy in an oversized, baggy-fitted bundle of boiled wool.
"Oh you." It was all Kylie could say, exasperated, but not enough to take for granted Junn's romp about the courtyard. Triumphant, just like a little Mantyke they both knew, her sleeves dragging in the grass, as she strutted "human-style," muttering those tongues called "Engrish," and hunching over a "portable electronic device."
----------The Meditite veered in her performance, responding to Kylie's giggling fit with played-up seriousness, going
"Yo-yo-yo" as she swiveled her wrist back and forth above her head. Her other hand cupped above her mouth, she seemed fond of her new 'Yung Yogi' look.
----------"Oh,
wow, that's me?" In another twist, Junn started hopping in place, clenched fists guarding her face as she jabbed once, jabbed again. Her stature sagged as she did so, strikes becoming increasingly sloppy as they were unleashed, until, in mock exhaustion, Jun was more-or-less just swiping the air.
----------"Ohmigod, my stance is
never that bad."
----------At the same pace, Junn's hands clapped against her cheeks, exaggerating her lips--
----------"See, that's cold!"
------------before collapsing with a wail in a pile of implied paperwork -- blades of grass torn up and thrown about. The Meditite's mitts dug into her scalp as her big eyes flitted back and forth, panicked and dreading and fearful.
"Alright, Mime Jr.,
enough. Gimme my jacket."
----------Kylie dipped forward, but her partner recoiled, her limps and that jacket dangling as she elevated, sniggering, out of reach.
----------"You suck!" the Trainer joked, and Junn stuck her tongue out, crossed her arms "unimpressed." She criticized relentlessly, gesturing frequently, with finger wagging and thumbs-downing, all with an exaggerated scowl. Nothing was ever good enough!
"Where are you even going with this?" Kylie dared to ask.
----------Her partner responded with rapt, paralyzing fear. Like a Zigzagoon caught digging through garbage, she
gasped, then collapsed unconscious onto the ground.
"What? You think I'm
scared? Naaah-HA-HA, that's so
stupid! I'm not-- Okay, but seriously, did you
see that Eric dude? Did you feel the bad vibes just coming straight out of him? I'm not being bigoted or nothin', he was just seriously, genuinely suspect.
----------"I don't want Entei to be a grab-bag like Raikou. I don't want it to be the 'not-good-enough-for-Suicune' loonie bin, that's all. And there's only, like, four of us, so we could be worse off than Raikou, who knows."
----------Junn didn't take to tirades well, and Kylie, recognizing she'd fell into one, chased the sentiment with, "I want to get to know my dorm mates better. I really do! It's just--"
The articulation never came. The Meditite lay stoic on the lawn, returning to her state of tranquility, though there was an air of disappointment about herself as Kylie approached to reclaim her jacket.
----------Junn was bashful in submitting, tugging its edge like a child after it slipped onto her Trainer's shoulders once again.
Kylie said gently, "Let's get some training in, Junn. If no one comes around, you can at least punch Maleko in the face. I know you like doing that, at least."
Renewed, Junn nodded affirmatively.
"Where's the little bottom-feeder anyway?" the Entei continued. "He better not be slacking on the job. It shouldn't take
that long to spot somebody nearby, or something must be holding him up."
