✘ and I'll try~ oh lord, I'll try~ to CAAAAAAARRY onnnn! xO

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

Who: Zack Fair; OPEN. Separate threads, one thread, I'm up for whatever.
Where: Cherrygrove outskirts.
When: Around 9 PM.
Summary: Zack has one last wild encounter before finally dragging his sorry ass into Cherrygrove City, where he will probably crash and burn at the first available opportunity.
Rating: PG, probably. Subject to change.



"Man, I'm beat..."

"...tiiini!"

"Heh. Yeah, no kidding."

The conversation between man and dragon was beginning to thin out. It had been a long, taxing week and a half -- and not just for the SOLDIER, who was still struggling to cope with the sudden and disheartening disappearance of his inhuman strength. Angela, the infallible little dragon, had been putting every ounce of her excess energy to good use. The duo had taken out what had seemed like an alarmingly sizable chunk of the local bird and raccoon population... but the creatures always came back, incessantly and, in some cases, aggressive.

The 7-foot long blue beast weaved through his legs from time to time as they made their way through the homestretch to Cherrygrove, chirping and whirring from time to time. The momentum of battle and the delirium of exhaustion had drawn out a bizarre mood from the both of them... and he found himself stopping in the middle of the sigh, interrupted by the shrill squeal of his pokemon.

The dark-haired man flinched reflexively with a shout, thinking he had stepped on Angela's tail. But the dragon's attention was not on her trainer -- it was on a small, brown, spherical bird that was staring rather intently back at the two of them.

Puuffing out his chest and giving it a wily grin, that second wind swept through him as he dug around in his backpack, fishing out one of the Pokeballs, which had been untouched prior.

The process had gone by surprisingly quickly. A couple of minutes in a dragon's stranglehold was more than enough to whittle down the unsuspecting owl's defenses. The animal was caught with relative ease, though Angela had taken a nasty blow to the snout in the process.

Putting the occupied Pokeball away, he contended that he would give the Hoothoot a more thorough examination after everybody had gotten some rest. For now, however, the town was in sight and the Dratini was reminding him of it with a loud whine.

"Alright, kiddo, alright..."

Comments

fff why hasn't anyone else commented yet I feel silly being the first. OH WELL.

[foolishwren]

Most everybody's who's gotten there so far has discovered Cherrygrove to be a pleasant, rather peaceful town. Especially on a warm evening like this one, all seems pretty quiet now that the day's wound down. So, who would be out screwing around in the grassy outskirts of the town when it would be so much nicer to be relaxing by the nighttime beach or chilling out in the nice, air-conditioned Pokemon Center?

Why, Heather of course!

She'd only just arrived in the town herself the previous night, bedraggled and filthy. The whole next day preceding this moment had been spent looking around the tiny town and getting the lay of the land. Then she'd apparently decided to go poke around on its edges for... some reason. Not usually what one would consider a particularly bad decision, but in this case, it was a big mistake.

The first thing Zack would hear somewhere ahead of him and off to the side, was a loud crashing of underbrush and a loud curse. Should he investigate, he'd find its source.

One very pissed-off teenage girl in a white vest, hunched forward with raptor-hands and bent at the knees, ready to spring in the direction of the other responsible party, which was a shaggy Growlithe.

The pup was in that universal canine 'play-bow' position, eyes fixed steadfastly on its trainer and bushy plume of a tail swaying slooooowly back and forth. From its mouth dangled something that glinted in what little light from the town made it this far-- some kind of necklace.

Both were frozen. It was totally a stand-off.

Heather's eyes narrowed.

The Growlithe's tail wagged even faster. This was the best game ever!

"Dog. Drop. That. Locket. ..... Now."

IT IS BECAUSE I AM SO UNPOPULAR. u_u

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

Not that the SOLDIER was in a particularly heightened state of alertness, but... it was Angela's pushy insistence that urged him to investigate the unnatural racket.

"Keep it down, Ang'. We don't wanna spook it..."

Of course, the man was operating under the assumption that the scuffle was either two wild pokemon duking it out in the night or some enormous, powerful pokemon that was making noise simply for the sake of making noise. Which really didn't make any sense when Zack gave the guess a bit more reflection...

He motioned for his dragon to keep low to the ground as he crept about to the opposite side of the clearing, just in case. If they were stumbling upon something unseemly and ferocious, it'd be in their best interest to surround --

-- But it wasn't a ferocious monster at all. It wasn't even a monster, really, from what he could see. Just a girl and a dog messing around. Dropping any attempt at stealth, he whistled for Dratini and stepped between the two of them, hands on his hips, looking every bit as bushed and confused as he felt.

"Uh... Hi, there."

;-;! HOW COULD THIS BE!

[foolishwren]

At the sound of movement, the spell was broken and the Growlithe went bounding joyfully off in a different direction. In the same instant, Heather crouched and lunged in one fluid, graceful movement.

And then hit the ground at the suddenly-in-the-way Zack's feet. With her face.

She raised herself up on one elbow, squinting at the stranger disgruntledly.

"... Hi."

Funny how so much venom could be packed into one word. It was more directed at the situation than it was at Zack, though unfortunately, that was sort of hard to tell. She got to her feet, grumbling and dusting herself off.

"Great, you scared him off."

'Scared' wasn't the right word. The Growlithe didn't look scared in the slightest-- he'd skidded to a halt in the brush a short distance away and was looking back at them, the necklace still dangling from his mouth. His tail whipped back and forth happily.

derp I AM AN UNLOVEABLE MONSTERRRRRRR -thrashes about.- ;B

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

Zack's shoulders tensed as the young lady quite literally faceplanted on his boots; He remained completely frozen in surprise, mouth slightly agape in the beginnings of a continuation of the would-be greeting. But... she looked mad, for some reason.

"Sorry? Er--..."

A restless swing of his arms loosened the tension a bit as he cast a cynical glance in the direction of the gleeful pup, and then to Angela, who slid haughtily over to curl around Zack's left foot and 'helpfully' nudge the stranger back to her feet. By pushing her face away with her tail.

The SOLDIER promptly shooed the Dratini out of his personal space and the pokemon obeyed -- but not without a loud whine.

"... Did your dog get away from you or something?"

[foolishwren]

Her first reaction to Angela's 'help' was to reflexively raise a hand to slap the tail away-- but ... oh god, it was so cute. Heather could be pretty darn mean when she wanted to be, but she just couldn't bring herself to whack something with big gooey eyes like that.

So instead she just grimaced and sort of waved it off.

"Ugh, sorry-- no, I just-- I let him out of the ball and he ran off with my locket. I don't want him to eat it or something." She gestured grumpily at the Growlithe, who was now giving them a disappointed look. OMG Y U STOP CHASING ME? 8c

Heather wiped a smudge of dirt off of her face and glanced at her hand briefly before looking up to get a better look at the stranger for the first time. The poor guy looked pretty bewildered and really hadn't deserved to be snapped at.

Heather Mason: Bad First Impression Extraordinaire.

In case it wasn't obvious, Heather wasn't much of a dog person.

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

Heaving a sigh, he belatedly offered a hand to help her up and gave a brief gesture to the restless Growlithe.

"Ah, he's probably just like any other dog! you have to let 'em know you're serious."

And an opportunity to do something manly and heroic? Yeah, he's all over that. Shrugging it off as if it would be no big deal -- a cover that was completely and utterly blown by the big, stupid grin on his face -- he clicked his tongue to bring Angela to attention.

"I don't wanna butt in to something that isn't really any of our business, but if you're having some trouble, Ang' here would be happy to get your necklace back."

[foolishwren]

Heather was one of those types who occasionally wrinkled their noses at offers of help, but she'd kind of snarled at him, and figured she shouldn't dig herself a deeper hole by blowing him off. So she took the hand with a surprisingly firm grip and hauled herself upright.

"Yeah, that's the problem," she muttered, mostly under her breath. He WAS just like any other dog. Which meant that Heather automatically was bad at handling him. She had questioned why she'd had the bad luck to be given the one kind of animal she knew for sure she couldn't stand, but she'd never come up with an answer more satisfactory than 'The cosmos hates me'.

She dusted herself off as he spoke his piece. And... well. Honestly, she really, really wanted to frown at that big goofy grin... but it was hard to keep being a grouch in the face of... well. That. So instead she found herself smiling back somewhat ruefully.

Spreading her arms, she gave a broad shrug and gestured in the direction of her rambunctious Pokemon.

"Be my guest, I guess it's hard to do a worse job of it than me. Normally I wouldn't care, but... it was a gift."

And... she was a little curious how something with no legs was going to catch up to the pup. Now THAT would be worth watching.

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

Nodding in determination, he turned his attention down to the situation at hand. He actually had some semblance of a plan -- which was downright unnatural for a man as reckless as he. But this wasn't his own strength that would be working against an enemy. This was his Angela doing a favor for a pretty girl. Getting an item back from a puppy.

Perhaps a stern look from a dragon would strike a more serious chord in the ill-behaved puppy.

"Give 'im a stern look, Angela."

The Dratini coiled its body into a tight, aggressive 'S'. And, surprisingly, those large, violet doe-eyes narrowed into very convincing malicious stare, which she held whilst keeping that pose perfectly still.

"With canines, it's all about the body language, see? I'm not haunched over. I'm standing up straight. Making eye contact. Dogs are all about body language."

It never occurred to Zack that Angeal had probably followed these steps in dealing with him when he was a younger militant.

[foolishwren]

If she'd known he thought she was 'pretty', she just might have gone ahead and tried to reaffirm her nongirliness by tromping off to get the locket herself. But she'd be flattered, too. And a little surprised. Taking an epic nosedive in front of some random dude wasn't usually a good way of impressing anybody.

Heather folded her arms and stepped back, watching a little dubiously. She did nod, though. "Yeah, I uh... I'm not really used to getting dogs to listen to me."

What she was used to was beating their heads in with a steel pipe to stop them from gnawing her face off. But thankfully, she wouldn't be running into any Doubleheads here in the Pokemon world. Still, a semi-phobia of dogs was a hard one to break, and it certainly explained why Heather sucked so bad at getting this thing to pay attention to her.

When Angela approached, the Growlithe's first reaction was to perk right up and start play-bowing again. OH BOY! OH BOY! NEW PLAYMATE ALKGHJSLG;SHDGF;DHFGHDH;D!!!

But then he noticed that his new playmate... was not so playful. His ears and tail drooped, and his expression took on an uncertain look. Whinewhinewhiiiine.

You are so not unpopular *loves on*

[icyempiricism.livejournal.com]

Vexen was just reaching Cherrygrove. He was as grumpy as he could be due to the overall weather of his trip and the progress Shelder had made, which wasn't good enough for him.

He noticed there were a few other trainers lingering around, perhaps if he met more people small boys would no longer think he looked suspicious.

As he continued to approach the town Shellder started to lag behind, perhaps it was tired but if it didn't walk it wouldn't gain stamina. Although it was a little hard for it to walk. It could and would endure!

It had other ideas apparently though because a few minutes later Shellder stopped moving.

"What do you think you're doing? We're so close after all of these days and you're just going to give in to your body? I'm sure there will be a place for you to heal up once we get inside of the city."

Shellder just looked up at him with his derpy eyes and Vexen frowned.

Zack may be able to hear Vexen ranting and yelling in frustration as Shellder inched closer and licked up his robe. Disgusting. This pokemon was going to stress him to death!

d-d'aw. T^T ... also poor Shellder.

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

The SOLDIER never would have imagined that a place like Cherrygrove had any kind of night life, but ... Apparently, that was when trainers tended to go out to train. Or, that's what he figured, anyway. Incidentally, one typically shouldn't leave Zack to make assumptions on his own.

While he was MORE than ready to hijack the nearest bed and crash, the Dratini continued to poke about the outskirts of the city urgently. And he was more than obligated to humor her curiosities ... Their training had been rough to say the least. And if the irritable little dragon wanted to squeeze in a bit of free play and exploration, who was he to deny her?

The man's mind wandered as he followed her this way and that absently, sighing when she shrieked to frighten away a small cluster of Hoothoot. What he was not expecting, however, was bumping into the disgruntled Vexen.

Angela, of course, led the way and yipped her 'alert' upon discovering the man and his Shellder. Scratching the back of his head tiredly, he gave the stranger an upward nod.

" 'Ey... Neat looking clam you got there. Ang'. Don't."

The Dratini had begun to size up the status of what she doubtlessly saw as her next opponent, nudging the budding spikes on its shell.

Lol Shellder...Vexen thinks he's dumb ;A; <3

[icyempiricism.livejournal.com]

He looked a bit surprised as something bumped into him, immediately turning his attention from Shellder to look over at a...long...blue thing.

"Hnn..." It was quite large...and it was kinda dark so he had to squint. It was rather 'cute' actually; it fit the definition of that word pretty well.

That's when he noticed Zack as well. He shook Shellder off of him, who only returned a second later, looking up at him with rather sad eyes. Vexen glanced down at it and let it stay put. He may feel compassion for the thing if he had the ability to.

He was about to tell Zack that he'd gotten in the way but then he remembered he was supposed to make friends out here to keep his cover. So...instead he managed to greet him.

"Hello...I'm Vexen." His eyes kept wandering back to the long blue dragon. What kind of pokemon was that...

ffff ;-; <33

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

While Angela remained completely and utterly fixated on the Shellder she was prodding and chirping at, Zack's face lit up with a well-worn but well-meaning grin as he extended a hand for Vexen to shake.

"Zack Fair! SOLDIER, 1st Class. Nice to meet ya."

Now that he thought about it, this guy was the oldest trainer he'd come to meet in Johto. He was almost sure the population was about 98% ankle-biters...

Poor Shellder...once it levels up more it'll gain more respect :D

[icyempiricism.livejournal.com]

He looked down at Zack's hand for a moment before extending his own. Bodily contact really wasn't his thing but he knew it was customary for many people from other worlds to shake hands, hug and even...kiss on the cheek.

He reached his own hand out to meet Zack's in a comfortable grasp and shook it elegantly before releasing.

"Soldier, may I inquire as to what that is?" Perhaps it was another organization like his own or the rockets.

[He's not old! He's full of youth!! D8]

I luff Shellder. THEY ARE SO PERFCET TOGETHER.

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

"Eh... Yeah, I keep forgetting..."

Force of habit. He recalled the days when he was proud to recite that title every time he introduced himself to somebody -- anybody -- new. But in Johto, it meant nothing.

"It was an elite fighting force in the place I come from." Now he was muttering. "The best of the best." Monsters. And the worst kind.

"Anyway, yeah. You can just call me Zack." The dark-haired man nodded in the direction of Dratini.

"... That's Angela."


[HE IS YOUNG AT HEART. ... wait. :|]

Omg I know! They're like 8D Soulmates!!!

[icyempiricism.livejournal.com]

An elite? Impressive.

"The best of the best? Most impressive. Zack then." An elite fighter. Perhaps he would make a decent friend in the long run. He should do his best to be hospitible.

"Angela? May I register the data into my pokedex?"


[fffff...poor Vexy]

Vexen'll be all *3* sparkley-eyed when it evolves!

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

"Yeah! Sure, dude. Break a leg."

Interlacing his fingers behind his head and crossing his ankles in a more relaxed stance, he watched the Dratini interact with her new acquaintance.

"She sure seems interested in your pal there."

And she most certainly did. The blue dragon continued to give experimental bumps and nudges to the Shellder's outer ridge.

I am probably going to be super-slow but hurr Zack

[restardom.livejournal.com]

Inside the actual town - or city, though Rise couldn't actually see a place so small as one of the cities she was used to - one tired idol was about ready to call it a night. ... Which was just sad, since she could usually last until midnight, but all of this training and working had been wearing her down.

Sadly, the same couldn't be said for the Sentret she'd caught awhile ago, who possessed at least seven stores of energy. Morning training had kept Kanzeon satisfied, and Himiko was more than pleased to get through it and then follow Rise around work like some odd leafy duckling, but the Sentret was once again energetic. And that meant letting her out to run.

Which meant she soon found herself chasing after a Sentret who had picked up the scent of something new and fascinating just outside of Cherrygrove and was hot on the trail to welcome man and Dratini with chittering and a tackle.

Her way of saying hello, after all.

oh god the chaos.

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

Imagine Zack's sheer terror and confusion.

The guy was just wandering about, following his own into-everything pokemon, dog-tired, zoned out, thinking only of how his head was gonna hit the pillow...

... When a raccoon came flying through the air to latch on to his head from behind. The following is a brief description of the unfortunate chain of events that occurred - and all at once.

Well. First and foremost, Zack Fair gave a very un-manly shout of surprise. More like a shriek, really. Look, the man's exhausted. What do you expect?

Then, as he flailed in a tired panic, Angela the Dratini became aware of what was going on -- probably more aware than Zack was -- and lashed her body with a hot-blooded battle cry. Perhaps in her hype, she saw that her trainer was in trouble. Or perhaps she was simply leaping at the opportunity to stir up another battle. In any case, something drove the fledgling dragon to gather electricity in her body before discharging a mild, paralytic shock to the Sentret. And, by an unfortunate happenstance, Zack in the process.

The dark-haired man promptly roared with a sudden jolt.
And he hit the ground.

[restardom.livejournal.com]

As tired as she was, Rise wasn't too far behind her mischievous Pokemon. In fact, she was all-out sprinting in an attempt not to lose sight of her Sentret.

And yet she was too late, for when she skidded to a halt, it wasn't because she'd caught Kanzeon. No, it was because Kanzeon was clinging to some guy's head while he screamed like a girl and some giant snake (no, she remembered, that was a Dratini) was trying to electrocute the "attacker".

Rise suddenly wished she'd gone to bed earlier. But topping that was a sudden surge of anger for the squeal the Sentret let out when that shock hit, and the worry when both of them hit the ground.

"Hey!!" Having paused enough to catch her breath, Rise ran the rest of the way forward, scooping up the unhappy, hissing ball of fur with one hand and shaking the man's shoulder with the other. "Are you okay?!"

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

Zack might not have been as spritely as he was when there was mako pumping in his veins, but he also wasn't a tiny pokemon. The Thunder Wave had hit him pretty hard, but the shock was wearing out of his system... if not a little slowly.

The SOLDIER had every intention of asking what the hell had just happened to him, but it came across as a bunch of sputtering and coughing.

Angela, probably realizing that her trainer had been caught in the crossfire and was much worse off than he had originally been, slithered over and placed her head on his stomach with a click and a purr.

B...Bad dragon... Not cool...

[restardom.livejournal.com]

"He's okay," Rise said automatically, although she wasn't sure if she was reassuring the Dratini or herself; she'd nearly had a heart attack! "He's okay-- you're okay," she told the man now.

The Sentret twitched feebly in her hold with a pitiful whine, and she frowned. "And you're okay, too, Kanzeon. I've got you." She sighed, then added under her breath, "And this is why you don't run off and jump on poor unsuspecting people."

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

The first coherent sound the man made was a long, growling groan of Angela's name -- and he didn't sound happy. The pokemon withdrew from issuing her well-meaning comfort to squeal anxiously at the Sentret, as if to continue fussing at him where Rise left off. As if she wasn't to blame.

At any rate, Zack finally sat up, rolling his left shoulder to work out a series of twitching fingers.

And, at last, the question came as he rubbed his head and patted down overfrazzled hair.

"... The hell just happened??"

[restardom.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you, uh--" Rise still looked kind of shellshocked, but she was at least making an effort to get her thoughts into some semblance of order. Easier said than done when there was a Sentret whining at her and a Dratini adding to the cacophony.

"... You kind of got... tackled by my Sentret, and then your Dratini zapped you." A moment's hesitation. "... I don't think it meant to do that, though," she added, obligated to help out the Dratini's case. It had been Kanzeon's fault, after all.

[honor-first.livejournal.com]

He immediately shot Angela a look of dismay, which prompted her to pile herself back into his lap and whine into his face apologetically, teary violet eyes glistening.

Still reeling from the situation himself, he put one of his numb arms around her and gave the dragon a bland pat. What a mess.

"So, um... He's okay, right? Your Sentret?"