LEVEL GRINDING

[maocontent.livejournal.com]

Who: Mao, Open
Where: Mahogany Town
When: Wednesday morning
Summary: The pokes are too high level, but somehow, Mao will make his Sneasel stronger!
Rating: T for Teen, prolly due to language.
Log:
Bright and early was never the way Mao did things.

But if he was going to get rid of this horrifying boredom and get his minion up to speed, he had to break the monotony somehow. Fiddling with his Pokegear, Mao glanced up at his minion partner, to see what he knew.

"In the words of a certain racer, show me your moves!" Mao crowed. "Let me see if you're just some cutesy thing or if can you rend entire towns!"

"Sneasel." The pokemon blinked at its master's crazy nerdishness. It did, however, understand. Taking a moment to flex its claws, the Sneasel showed off a scratch attack against the tree, leaving a noticeable mark.

Mao stared. "...we have a ways to go. The good news is I see potential. Great potential!" And he was in fact, huffing and puffing, barely able to hold off that drool. "But now, still the issue is, how do I make you stronger? I don't have any candies, the wildlife around here is double our strength, and stupid laws and lack of powers keep me from fighting you myself. Hmmm..." And he was pacing again, still racking his brains on how to do this.

Sneasel? It was more than happy to go back scratching that tree.

Comments

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"It's Rome, actually."

Ken frowns, a frown deeper than a kid his age should be able to manage. "I'm not going to make an animal fight my battles."

[maocontent.livejournal.com]

Mao notices a frown like that--years of studying anime and games and storylines give him the edge of being a sucker for details, even in 3-D land. He's too serious for Mao's usual imagery. It's time to cut the shit.

Mao stares hard at him, his face more serious than normal. "Then don't fight period. This place doesn't play by your rules, or mine." He walked closer to the kid. "Look beyond the surface. They're not just fighting your battles. They're saving your ass from the elements. Try and punch out these guys on your own power if you want, but that will only send you to the hospital that much faster. Don't just go barreling in like some idiot hero!"

Noticing a change in his owner's demeanor, Sneasel stops his self-training and heads closer to Mao. The demon(?) clenches his fists. "If you're not going to let your partner fight, the least you can do is respect his wishes. Right?!" Being "tough hero" was actually kinda scary.

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"Don't underestimate me because I'm a kid. I've fought things bigger and scarier than these guys." Ken's the kind of kid that fights fire with fire. "And he's not my partner. I don't care what happens to it!" The last bit is a lie--a very easy to see through lie.

[maocontent.livejournal.com]

"I'm not underestimating you because you're a kid. Far from it," Mao knew how this worked. "I'm underestimating you because whatever power you had in your world is gone. Kaput! I've tried my multitude of powers, they don't work here!"

"So if you don't want that creature, why don't you give him to me?" Mao said. "Truly I could give him the battles he deserves."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"Who said I even had any powers?" Bad lie, bad lie, Ken's face shows that he's uncomfortable talking about powers at all. He doesn't know if he can trust any knowledge about personas to anyone here. "And I'm not going to give him up to just anybody! Especially someone who's gonna make him battle."

And, of course, Ken doesn't realize that the whole time he's been using the wrong pronoun for his pokemon--his cubone is actually a girl.

[maocontent.livejournal.com]

"Most humans can't take down monsters without weaponry or powers, a basic fact of the universe." Mao rattled off as if recalling some World of Warcraft-based fact. "You wouldn't be able to live up to that boasting of yours without them."

He looked at him again. "So you're just going to leave him to the elements? As strong as they are, they can't survive on their own. Not out here. That's why we have to make them stronger."

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

"Who says I don't know how to fight with a weapon? I was training a long time before I got my persona." Ken's frown turns into one of mild irritation. "I'm not boasting--I'm telling the truth."

He mumbles to himself. "He does a good enough job of beating me up."

[maocontent.livejournal.com]

Mao sighed. This might take a while. "You're pretty easy to see through. Even if you did fight with weapons before, where will you get them? I haven't seen any weapons stores around at all! How will you compensate with that?"

Those last words made him smirk. "I don't see a problem if someone wants to fight goes out to fight. They just have to be smart about it. If he's beating you up, he knows he can win."

WATCH ME BE REALLY LATE. /lost this tag somewhere along the line

[usedrage.livejournal.com]

Ken grumbles, looking away. He's not pouting. Not at all. "He can only beat me because he knows I won't hit him back."

*IS SO SLOW THANKS TO E3*

[maocontent.livejournal.com]

"You should give him a better target. Letting him beat up on you is pathetic." Mao said.

Sneasel crouched by Mao's side. "Try it. Let our Pokemon play together."