✘ how did i get this far from what i held dear

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

Who: Zack Fair, OPEN
Where: Route 31
When: Night. Progressing into laaaaaaate night.
Summary: Zack has a promise to keep. And some training will take his mind of that strange feeling of impending doom from the sudden influx of ShinRa employees.
Rating: PGish. Depends on who joins in.
Log:


Zack Fair would have been lost without Angela.
Seriously, the dragon had a knack for sniffing out exactly what he was looking for, and her ability to Paralyze whatever she found made catching pokemon that much easier. The usually snippy, unimpressable dratini's mood always made a complete turn-around on the battlefield. It was the best way for the two of them to bond, and sometimes... it seemed like the only situation in which Angela looked upon her trainer with admiration and respect.

Four hours of rugged, damp, battle-riddled hunting had produced the results of not two -- not three -- but four different Poliwags.

And now he had all four of them lined up in a row in front of himself and his dragon... and Angela was inspecting each of them with contempt. Ash only needed two, but it was damn near impossible to tell which were which gender, which was the whole point of catching the stupid-looking things in the first place.

"Alright, kiddo. How goes the inspection?" The SOLDIER sat near Angela and stroked the side of one of her fins.

"Think these guys can make the cut?"

This hunting expedition had yielded pretty good results.
... The downside, however, was that he only had one Pokeball left.

Comments

[restardom.livejournal.com]

"It's not too bad," Rise assured him after a moment, stooping to scoop up Himiko with the arm that didn't hurt and leaning a little once she'd checked to make sure her Mareep was safe and sound. "You put it out pretty quickly, remember?"

She paused, eager as she was to get some kind of salve or ice on the burn. "Um..." And now she jerked her chin at the line of Poliwags. "What about these guys?"

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

"Ahh, damnit."

He curled his tongue and whistled, the Poliwag pod all turning in their direction with a simultaneous 'Poli~?' and began to toddle over eagerly, chirping from time to time.

"... Sidewinder knows a water attack or two, but I don't know if that'll be enough. Do you want me to take you into town?"

[restardom.livejournal.com]

Rise was nothing like Kanji or Souji, or-- even Chie. They could take hits and keep on going. She could take hits and... try to keep on going, but inevitably fail. When it came down to it, Rise's strength wasn't of the physical sort at all. And the Beedrill incident - the memory of that awful night spent poisoned and miserable and curled in her sleeping bag - was still too fresh in her mind for her to put up a brave front.

"I should get it taken care of, but you don't have to come," she muttered, not looking forward to a long trek back. "I don't know how to treat a burn like this myself, either." The row of Poliwags wandering over as if they'd been enchanted by some kind of piper made her smile, though. If Zack was catching them for Ash, she'd be seeing a lot more of them.

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

His expression hardened and he walked around to stand in front of her, with his back facing her.

"I'll take you, Rise." Yes, he was offering to carry her piggyback all the way to Violet City. Posie could hitch a ride in his bag.

"It's my fault your shoulder got all messed up. ... C'mon."

[restardom.livejournal.com]

"It's not your fault," she said automatically, and meant it. Technically, it was Rise's fault for having a Sentret who was willing to provoke his Dratini that far in the first place, but she wasn't about to argue fine details just then. Not when her legs were sore from chasing Pokémon all over the ranch and to the city, and not when he was so much taller than she was; declining might not work.

With a low apologetic murmur to Himiko and a vow to find her some quality soil once they were in the city, she recalled the Oddish back into her ball and eyed Zack's back consideringly. Did he want her to jump...?

Short tag is so short.

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

"It is so and we're going."

Welp, whether she liked it or not, he was taking her to Violet City. He literally backed into her, crouched, and lifted her up on to his back, expecting her to hold on to his neck or shoulders.

iyaaa Zack so bold

[restardom.livejournal.com]

"It is n-- whooa?!"

Right, that was something she'd forgotten about Zack: he didn't waste time. Rise very nearly fell backwards in her astonishment, but one arm instinctively wrapped around his neck and she used that to pull herself closer without strangling him in the process.

"Taking 'sweeping off your feet' to a new level, huh?" she quipped, but there were worse things than being piggybacked by a cute guy.

YOU ARE INJURED, MA'AM, NO TIME TO DICK AROUND

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

"If you wanna call it that." His laugh was dry and he shook his head, whistling again to make sure the attention of the Poliwag were still on them.

Grunting a little as he adjusted the weight distribution (he still had a pretty raw wound from his own secret, humiliating Beedrill encounter) on his back, he set off in the direction of the city, the parade of 'poli~? poli~?? trailing after them.

TIS ONLY A FLESH WOUND

[restardom.livejournal.com]

This was such an absurd situation that Rise almost laughed. She'd come out here to oblige an Oddish and now she was being carried back with an entourage of little tadpole things bobbing after them and what was sure to be a livid Sentret whenever Kanzeon woke up. Better to keep her in her ball for now (and the rest of the night).

"Let me know if I'm too heavy, okay?" She propped her chin on Zack's shoulder after a minute, allowing herself to droop a bit. Late nights were starting to take their toll. "It's just my shoulder, not my legs."

lmaoooo

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

"Too heavy? Sheesh, no way."

He was, as usual, oblivious to how completely and utterly ridiculous they must've looked to any outside onlooker. The Poliwag had taken to skipping, mimicking each other with the occasional gleeful squeal.

"I know your legs are fine, Rise! It won't do you any good to exhaust yourself on the way back to the Pokemon Center. Gotta save your energy."

[restardom.livejournal.com]

Save her energy for what? Sleeping? ... Oh right, she had an hour's walk back to the ranch from the city. Wouldn't that be fun. About as fun as practicing the same dance moves over and over and over until her manager called it quits six hours later. Yeah, that sounded about right.

"You, too," she reminded him, but the chin stayed firmly put. "Chasing after the Polisquad had to be tiring."

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

"Chasing stuff used to be the easiest part of my job," he grumbled, moving around a ledge as he picked up the pace a bit.

"Angela was the tired one. ..." He grunted. "... At least she'll be getting some rest now."

[restardom.livejournal.com]

"And Kanzeon won't keep me up all night," his passenger mumbled. For a muscled guy, Zack was surprisingly comfortable, though she was still a fan of using Souji's lap as a pillow. Still, one had to make do with what they had. "It'd be nice if they could get along, though."